Assessment of the physical development and physical fitness of children and youths with simple body height deficiency

Abstract

The aim of this work is an analysis of the process of growth and an assessment of the physical fitness of children and youths with short stature. The material contains results of a long-term investigation of the growth of boys and girls with the diagnosis: simple body height deficiency (hypostatura simplex). The investigation was carried out in Swietokrzyskie Province, Poland, in the years 1980-1997. It comprised 471 individuals: 143 girls aged 5-18 years and 328 boys aged 5-19 years. A different degree of the skeleton age is connected with a different dynamic of growth of short-stature girls and boys. Pubescent increase in the rate of growth occurs in individuals with a considerable retardation of the bone age later, particularly among boys. The growth process lasts longer in them, therefore, the final body height is achieved later and it is greater in individuals whose bone age is concordant with the calendar age. The level of physical working capacity of short-stature children does not show any significant difference in comparison with that in individuals with correct body height, and relative values of the indicators of physical fitness, related to body mass, are even higher in short-stature children. Individuals with a greater body height deficiency are characterised by a lower level of physical fitness.