Impaired Visual Motor Coordination in Obese Adults.

To investigate whether obesity alters the sensory motor integration process and movement outcome during a visual rhythmic coordination task. 88 participants (44 obese and 44 matched control) sat on a chair equipped with a wrist pendulum oscillating in the sagittal plane. The task was to swing the pendulum in synchrony with a moving visual stimulus displayed on a screen. Obese participants demonstrated significantly ( < 0.01) higher values for continuous relative phase (CRP) indicating poorer level of coordination, increased movement variability ( < 0.05), and a larger amplitude ( < 0.05) than their healthy weight counterparts. These results highlight the existence of visual sensory integration deficiencies for obese participants. The obese group have greater difficulty in synchronizing their movement with a visual stimulus. Considering that visual motor coordination is an essential component of many activities of daily living, any impairment could significantly affect quality of life.