Prevalence of postural abnormalities among primary schoolchildren

Introduction. Postural abnormalities are considered as a public health problem. The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of body posture defects in girls and boys during early school period. Material and methods. The research covered 150 children, including 7-year-olds (25 girls; 25 boys), 8-year-olds (25 girls; 25 boys) and 9-year-olds (25 girls and 25 boys) attending randomly selected primary schools in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Poland. The body posture was assessed according to Kasperczyk’s scoring method. The Pearson Chi-square test, Mann Whitney U test, ANOVA Kruskal-Wallis test (with post hoc multiple comparisons test) were used to analyse the results. Results. Positioning of the shoulders (among 52% of children were positioned asymmetrically or slightly forward, in 15% of children were strongly asymmetrically moved forward, the top of the shoulders was located in front of the contour of the neck), the abdomen (54% of children had a bulging stomach, but not protruding beyond the chest line, 23% of children had a bulging belly, protruding beyond the chest line, and 1% of children had a sagging stomach), and the foot (40% of children had a flattened foot, 17% of children had a pes planus, and 9% of children had a pes planovalgus) concerned the greatest variation in the frequency of abnormalities. Associations were observed between sex of 7-year-olds and frequency of postural abnormalities (p = 0.025), as well as between age of the studied boys and frequency of postural abnormalities (p = 0.001). Conclusions. The shoulders, the abdomen, and the shape of the foot require special attention when taking and disseminating preventive and corrective actions. 7-year-old boys had worse body posture than 7-year-old girls, as well as 7-year-old boys obtained more penalty points than 9-year-old boys. This indicates the need for monitoring body posture and therapy, moreover this process should be characterized by continuity and mutual cooperation between therapists and the care and educational environment.