A Clinical Study About Difference Between Recognition of One's Own Body Figure and the Real Body Shape

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to evaluate if the answers of questionnaires correlate with real body shapes and to evaluate if there are any differences between different types of questionnaires. Methods : We hand-measured body circumferences and body widths to analyze statistically answers of 9 questions from 2 different questionnaires. Also we compared two different types of questionnaires with Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient and two way ANOVA test. Results : There are significant correlations between answers of questions and all measured body circumferences and most body circumferences except for iliac width. Also answers of questionnaires even about the same chest part are not quite the same according to the opposite type of questionnaire after we compared grouping two of eight questions. Patients seem to have difficulty to recognizing if their necks are well-developed or not especially when the question asks about body shape when comparing two parts such as neck vs waist or chest vs buttock. Conclusions : There is general tendency of recognizing one's body shape properly. But also there are differences of recognition according to the type of questionnaire about the same body. So it is recommended to study more about the questionnaires.