PENHA PJ et al. Postural assessment of girls between 7 and 10 years of age. CLINICS 60(1):9-16, 2005.Postural alterations are often found in children and teenagers. In this stage of development, the posture undergoes many adjustments and adaptations due to changes of the body and to demanding psychosocial factors.PURPOSE: To identify which postural alterations occur most often in students between 7 and 10 years of age, to identify preventive measures, and to provide information to parents and teachers about the problem of bad posture.METHODS: Thirty three girls in each of 4 age groups between 7 and 10 years of age were assessed, resulting in a sample of 132 subjects. Photos of each girl in the sagittal and frontal planes were examined for postural deviations.
RESULTS:The main postural deviations found were knock-knee, medial rotation of the hip, antepulsion, pelvic anteversion, knee hyperextension, lumbar hyperlordosis, valgus ankle, imbalanced shoulders, lateral pelvic inclination, scoliosis, trunk rotation, thoracic hyperkyphosis, winged scapula, shoulder protraction, abducted scapula, medial rotation of shoulders, and head tilt.CONCLUSION: High incidences of postural alterations occur in children of school age. Some of these reflect normal postural development, and get corrected during the child's growth. On the other hand, some alterations are asymmetries that can be caused by daily demands on the body and can result in negative impacts on the quality of life during childhood and adulthood. We emphasize the importance of providing information to parents and teachers about the problem of bad posture.
KEYWORDS: Posture. Physical therapy, Students. Posture assessment.Posture is often defined as the relative arrangement of body parts. Good posture is the state of muscular and skeletal balance that protects the body structures against injury or progressive deformity independent of the attitude (erect, lying, stooping, bent) in which these structures are working or resting. Under such conditions, muscles work more efficiently, and ideal positions are allocated to the thoracic and abdominal organs.
1,2Bad posture is a defective relationship between the several parts of the body that produces greater tension in the supportive structures, and where a less efficient body balance on the supportive base occurs.
1,2There are intrinsic and extrinsic factors that can influence the subject's posture, such as heredity, the environment or physical conditions in which the subject lives, socioeconomic level, emotional factors, and physiologic alterations due to human growth and development.The prepuberal phase and puberty are periods of life during which the posture undergoes many adjustments and adaptations due to changes in the body and to demanding psychosocial factors. Between 7 and 12 years of age, a child´s posture undergoes a big transformation to reach a compatible balance with the new corporal proportions. Bankoff and Brighetti 3 discuss the question of the formation of the body schema in childhood through the motor ex...
