Effects of Postural Education in Elementary School Children: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Objective: To determine the effect of postural education on the learning and postural habits of elementary school children without physical intervention. Methods: We searched PubMed, Lilacs, SciELO, Cochrane, and Science Direct data bases and reference lists of studies in February 2020. The eligibility criteria were randomized clinical trials related to the effect of postural education in children aged between 6 and 12 years old. Two authors independently assessed trials for inclusion and risk of bias: randomization process, deviations from intended interventions, missing outcome data, measurement of the outcome, and selection of the reported result. Data were extracted in standardized tables including information on author, publication year, country, sample size, age, sex, intervention characteristics, outcome measurements and results. Results: We found seven clinical trials (involving 2,568 children) for the review. The studies were conducted between 2000 and 2018: four in Belgium, two in Spain, and one in Germany. All seven included trials underwent evaluation: only one had a clear process of randomization and allocation concealment. All included studies were judged as having high risk of bias in at least one domain or have concerns for multiple domains. Conclusions: The positive effects of acquired knowledge and postural habits found in the studies cannot be used to reliably support postural education in elementary school children due to a high risk of bias in the evaluated studies.

Knowledge and Practices of Back Care, Experience in Colombian Children

“…Regarding the intervention programs’ duration, the present study proposed a 5-week intervention with sessions of 3 days a week (2 hours per session). According to what has been published by other authors, the duration of the reported interventions differs from ours, with interventions of six 60-minute sessions, 18,29 6 weeks, 30 9 weeks once a week with a duration of one and a half hours. 25 Studies in which the duration of the intervention was 1 week, from 2 to 6 weeks, from 8 to 15 weeks and even 96 weeks 25,27,31-35 which proves its effectiveness and usefulness in a few weeks but with greater hourly intensity.…”

Effects of postural education on daily habits in children. Intervention effects from the PEPE study.

“…At the moment, the results on the positive effects as to acquiring knowledge and postural habits found in the studies are inconclusive [12]. The hypothesis of the present study is that postural education will improve the children's postural habits, and that these improved postural habits will result in a lower prevalence of LBP, preventing its onset at an early age and reducing the intensity and frequency of pain in those cases where LBP is already present.…”

“…However, it is currently di cult to carry out a face-to-face intervention in schools, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While it is certain that other studies on habit change have been carried out telematically (mHealth interventions) [10,11], to the best of our knowledge, none have been carried out in child population [12], due to the complexity involved in interventions with children, such as the limited use of personal mobile phones, or the need to involve families in the interventions, due to their fundamental role in shaping their children's health choices [13].…”

Knowledge of Low Back Pain among Primary School Teachers

“…In this sense, schools play an important role. There have been certain interventions with diverse components that were assessed in randomized trials as possible choices for teaching postural education to elementary school children, with various components adapted to the children’s age range [ 38 ]. Once the postural education sessions had been analyzed, all the proposals were adapted to the child population, including active methodology, comic books, games, and characters, among other things, and focused on biomechanics, the spinal column, and posture.…”