preview

Skin Fold Method Essay

Decent Essays
Open Document

Potential sources of measurement error can occur while using the skin fold method if the person that is administrating the test has not had significant amount of practice. Taking skin fold measurements requires specific training. Without training, it is complicated to obtain consistent accurate skin fold measurements. To reduce error while using the skin fold method, it is important to have a good quality skin fold caliper. Good-quality calipers should deliver a specific amount of force and this can be assured by the manufacturer of the caliper. he easiest skin fold site to measure was the abdominal area. Typically, most people have a greater amount of fat in this area, therefore, it was easier to grab and measure. The thigh is the most difficult …show more content…

Certain areas of measurements was harder to take than other areas because of it’s angle. It was harder to take skin fold measurements on a participant who did not have much fat on their body. It was also difficult to take measurements when the participant was in multiple layers of clothes. The potential sources of error when measuring circumferences and skeletal diameters can occur if the administrator does not properly measure the specific areas. Measuring too high or too low of a certain area can skew accuracy. It is also important for the administrator to remember to stand on the right side of the participant. Not accurately reading the measuring tape can result in error. For example, reading inches instead of centimeters would cause error. For my skin fold measurements, body fat percentage was between twenty-five and thirty-five percent. For BIA, my body fat percentage for sitting was twenty-two percent, standing with straight arms was twenty-one percent, and standing with bent arms at seventeen percent. The measurements may have been different since the SKF was taken by a person and BIA through a machine. Although the results were not completely off, it was off by a few

Get Access