Research

Energy balance

Higher BMI is significantly associated with an earlier onset of injury and illness, and a higher frequency of injuries over time, regardless of exercise prescription.

Your risk of injury is linked to your body weight, not necessarily the exercise you do. Losing weight reduces this risk. If you get injured, consider that your current weight may be placing excessive stress on your body, and weight loss can help delay or prevent future injuries.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Participants with higher BMIs were injured earlier or had increased odds of injury over time than participants with lower BMIs.
Carol A. Janney et al. · International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity · 2010

Why this rating

RCT data, statistically significant (p ≤ 0.01), consistent across models.

Source

The influence of exercise and BMI on injuries and illnesses in overweight and obese adults: a randomized control trial

Carol A. Janney et al. · International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity · 2010

DOI 10.1186/1479-5868-7-1

rct · n=397Cited 508×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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