Assessment of body posture in 12- and 13-year-olds attending primary schools in Pabianice

Abstract

The aim: of study was to estimate the body posture in children finishing primary schools. This is the last moment to make any improvement in body posture needed, because after the end of the child's growth the correction of postural defects is practically impossible.

Materials and methods: The study was conducted on 236 pupils aged 12-13 years attending primary schools number 3, 5 and 17 in Pabianice. To evaluate body posture Kasperczyk's points method was used. It is a commonly applied method for screening purposes.

Results: Over 50% of studied children had poor body posture and just under 6% of pupils' posture was assessed as very good. In the study population of children finishing primary schools the occurrence of faulty posture was shown to be very high. The most common defect in body posture among pupils was an uneven alignment of shoulders and shoulder blades.

Conclusions: The results obtained in this study indicate the need to undertake action reducing the occurrence of faulty posture among children in Pabianice.

Keywords: postural balance; posture; spinal curvature.