This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Physiotherapy department of Krishna Hospital and Research Centre in Karad city. The data was collected from 10^th April to 30^th April 2018. The study population of 99 individuals was the banking employees of various banks who were selected by purposive sampling method.

Sample size and sampling: A sample size of 99 was calculated by the statistician assuming the 55.2% prevalence of physical inactivity with 15% relative precision, 95 confidence and 20% attrition rate based on ICMR-INDIAB study, Maharashtra status [3]. Data was collected and the overall procedure was supervised by the faculty incharge. The proforma was checked by faculty incharge for quality assurance.

1) Age group between 20-50 years; 2) Healthy individuals but physically inactive for 6-8 hours daily, exercising for less than 2 hours per week; 3) Both genders; 4) Subjects willing to participate in the study.

1) Individuals with any history of spine pathology or fracture; 2) abdominal or spine surgery; 3) LBP for more than 3 months or present LBP; 4) individuals involved in gym or exercising regularly for 2-4 hours per day.

Outcome assessment was done by using Chattanooga Pressure Stabilizer™ with subjects positioned on the plinth in crook lying position with the placement of Pressure Biofeedback Unit (PBU) under the lumbar spine at L3 level, right below the umbilicus and it was inflated to 40 mmHg. The intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of PBU for measurement of Transverse abdominis were (ICC>0.98) and (ICC>0.99) with 95% confidence interval which was found to be excellent. The inflated pressure for beginners is 40 mmHg whereas for athletes its 70 mmHg [16,17]. It has been documented that core stability assessment with hip flexion or knee extension/flexion, the 90° position has the best reliability (ICC, 0.94) or (ICC, 0.77) of the assessor as compared to the other joint positions [18,19]. Individuals were instructed to “Take a breath in and as you exhale, gently draw your navel in towards your spine”. Individuals were asked to maintain abdominal contraction for as long as they could but weren’t made aware that they had to contract it for at least 10 seconds of duration while maintaining a pressure of 40 mmHg on the Pressure gauge. Five practice repetitions with verbal and tactile feedback made prior to recording the data to correct errors. All the samples weren’t allowed to look at the PBU gauge at any time [16].

Core Weakness will be considered more in bank employees who were not be able to maintain the pressure at or above 40 mmHg. According to duration it will be considered more in bank employees who were not be able to maintain the contraction for 10 more seconds.

Ethical clearance was obtained from the Institutional Ethical Committee of KIMSDU. Individuals were approached and those fulfilling the inclusion criteria were selected. The procedure was explained and written informed consent was taken from those willing to participate. Demographic information of the subjects was taken. The individuals were explained about the purpose of the study. Also, they were informed about the procedure. Each of them was assessed for the Core weakness using a PBU. Data was recorded. Statistical analysis using SPSS (version 22.0) was done in relation to distribution of the age, gender, BMI as well as holding of pressure and duration of the PBU.

Association between gender and core weakness by Pearson Chi-Square test, was found to be (0.695) and p-value (0.405) which was not significant [Table/Fig-1]. The p-value found with Fisher’s-exact test was (0.475) as this p-value was >0.05 it was found to be not significant [Table/Fig-1]. Association between age and core weakness by Pearson Chi-Square test, it was found to be (4.258) with 5 degree of freedom and p-value of (0.513) which was not significant [Table/Fig-1]. The p-value found with Linear by Linear Association was (0.482) as this p-value was >0.05 it was found to be not significant [Table/Fig-1] and association between BMI and core weakness by Pearson Chi-Square test, it was found to be 58.247 and p-value of (0.679) which was not significant [Table/Fig-1]. The p-value found with Linear by linear association was (0.033) as this p-value was <0.05 it was found to be significant [Table/Fig-1]. The p-value for cross tabulation of pressure against duration was >0.05 hence it was found to be not significant [Table/Fig-2].

In this study, among the 99 selected bank employees, prevalence of core weakness was present in 72 bank employees which was found to be 72.73% [Table/Fig-3]. Another cross-sectional study was done to find the prevalence of high Sedentary Behaviour (SB) among 42,469 individuals of six countries, aged >18 years. The prevalence of high SB was found to be China (9%), Ghana (6.4%), India (5.2%), Mexico (3.9%), Russia (17.7%), South Africa (4.6%). This data from the World Health Organization’s Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health was analysed to find an overall prevalence of high sedentary behaviour to be 8.3% [20]. Core weakness was found to be more prevalent in males rather than females [Table/Fig-4]. A reason for this may be that females are involved in all the household activities which make them more physically active than the males during their non-working hours [3]. A study reviewed prevalence of physical inactivity among adults was estimated to be 31.1%. Physical inactivity was more prevalent among males (22.4%) than females (14.4%), although this difference was not statistically significant. These individuals were found to carry out activities such as gardening and farming [21].

It was clear that out of these 72 bank employees, core weakness was found to be more prevalent in the age group of 45-50 years and the least was seen in the age group of 20-25 years [Table/Fig-5]. The cause due to which core weakness was found in Bank employees in the age group of 45-50 years might be that, as these individuals are ageing their muscles fibers and muscle mass reduces, so they tend to get easily fatigued on carrying out any activity; hence they are less physically active. On the other hand the bank employees within the age group of 20-25 years are still young, energetic and are more active than the individuals above the age of 40 years. The other reason for core weakness might be aging process leading to muscle strength loss in individuals above of age of 40 years (40.9%) [22]. Global recommendations given on physical activity suggests that moderate to vigorous physical activity is necessary for each age group, re-evaluation of exercise habits and its intensity are required [23].

Majority of core weakness was also noted in bank employees with a normal BMI and minimum was seen in those who were underweight [Table/Fig-6]. In accordance with the BMI a higher level of total physical activity is required to lower its values [13].

People mostly focus on staying active by walking, jogging or running, nobody really focuses on the core muscle strength which is necessary for the stability required to maintain the posture while carrying out the activities [8]. The knowledge of physical activity and exercise is already known among many people, but the population of people exercising regularly is small and the amount of physical activity practiced during leisure time decreases day by day. It’s difficult for the people to continuously uphold the habit of performing high amounts of physical activity for greater extends of time [23]. The rate of exercise is low due to employment and natural environment. It was reported that approximately half of the people discontinue exercising and performing physical activity regularly within 3-6 months of starting [24]. Physical activity above moderate intensity is beneficial for the health. Walking and running are basic kinds of aerobic exercises, can be performed anytime and anyplace, at one’s own pace with no special skills required. But, low intensity regular walking isn’t enough for weight loss though they reduce risk factors such as metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases [25,26]. Running is useful but is considered difficult so people don’t even attempt it [27].

This study shows that core weakness was noted in Bank employees but the results were not statistically significant due to the limitations such as the small sample size but the power of the study was 80% with 95% of confidence interval. The sample size was calculated and found to be sufficient by the statistician, as per the present geographical area. But it was found to be more prevalent on assessing the core muscles; which makes it completely necessary to focus on the core muscle strengthening programs for these individuals, associated with suggestions for postural correction in order to maintain the stability of core of the body and a normal spinal alignment.

The study group size was small; hence study results cannot be generalised for the entire population. The accessibility to the banks and the transport system wasn’t proper as this area is still developing to be a proper urban city, hence yes the geographical location was found to be a limitation. Short duration of study was another limitation.

Similar study can be done in different sedentary occupations. Comparative study can be done between the sedentary workers belonging to different professions. Studies with inclusion of individuals with musculoskeletal disorders or complaints. Future researches must include details of leisure time of the individual. The overall physical activities during the day should also be considered in the upcoming research studies. Comparative studies can be done with different postures suitable for core muscle assessment with the Pressure biofeedback unit.

On the basis of the results of the study, it was concluded that core weakness in bank employees which was found to be 72.73%; Association of core weakness with age was found within the age group of 45-50 years (23.6%) which was relatively higher than other age groups. Association of core weakness with gender was found to be higher in male population (65.3%) and in individuals with normal BMI (52.8%). Statistically significant difference was noted in individuals with normal BMI, whereas no statistically significant difference was noted with respect to the age and gender.