Análise das diferenças posturais e comparação da flexibilidade muscular em crianças negras, brancas e orientais de 9 a 15 anos de idade

Abstract

Introduction: Individual's posture is influenced by intrinsic and extrinsic factors, such as physical and environmental conditions, socioeconomic levels, emotional factors and physiological changes, and heredity. The level of flexibility will vary according to the anthropometric measures, body composition, cultural, pathological and genetic factors. The characterization of the individual's posture and flexibility is multifactorial, and the decrease of the flexibility can lead to postural compensations which affect a good postural alignment. Comparisons of postural differences between breeds demonstrate possible genetic influences on their results. Objectives: The objective of this study was to analyze the postural differences and compare the muscular flexibility index in healthy black, white and asian children/adolescents from 9 to 15 years old. Methods: 132 children/ adolescents from 9 to 15 years old were evaluated in two private schools from the municipality of Guarulhos, one private school and one public school from the municipality of São Paulo, one Japanese club in municipality of Arujá and volunteers in municipality of Itararé. They were split in groups according to races: black, white and asian, based on apparent characteristics and phenotype, having the help of a questionnaire to define the race. Digital photos from back view, right side, left side and anterior view were obtained. The measurements were made in degrees and centimeters with SAPO software, v. 0.69, and the following positioning variables were analyzed: thoracic kyphosis, lumbar lordosis, lateral curvature of the spine, knee posture and third finger ground test. For statistics analyses, it was applied the Shapiro-Wilk test to verify the normal distribution of the variables, and it was performed an ANOVA one-way test to verify differences in the posture and flexibility among the groups. This was a prospective comparative study with convenience sample. Results: There was a significant decrease of thoracic kyphosis (black 37,3° ± 8,2°; white 36,8° ± 7,6°; oriental 32,7° ± 6,5°) and of lumbar lordosis (black 40,5° ± 11,1°; white 38,4° ± 7,5°; oriental 29,5° ± 7,2°) in the Asian children compared to the black ones. The flexibility did not present significant differences among the races. Conclusion:Characterization of posture based on race may lead to more appropriate and ethnically contextualized treatments.