2022, Volume 18, Issue 1
Postural dysfunction indicators of pre-school children from the Polish population in the COVID-19 post-pandemic period
Ewa Waldzińska1, Aleksandra Durzyńska1, Magdalena Kochanowicz2, Klaudia Daniłowicz1
1Faculty of Health Sciences, Lomza State University of Applied Sciences, Lomza, Poland
2Division of Physical Therapy, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
Author for correspondence: Aleksandra Durzyńska; Faculty of Health Sciences, Lomza State University of Applied Sciences, Lomza, Poland; email: adurzynska@ansl.edu.pl
Full text
Abstract
Background & Study Aim: Posture, it goes without saying, is an extremely important aspect in a child's development. Despite the many positive effects of advances in technology, limitations on the physical activity of the youngest children are emerging to a considerable extent The aim of this study is the knowledge about the posture of pre-school children, based on the case of a 60,000-person city in Poland during the ending phase of COVID-19 pandemic.
Material & Methods: Sixty children aged 5-6 years (30 girls, 30 boys) from Public Kindergarten No. 2 in Łomża (a medium-sized city of more than 60,000 inhabitants) were studied during the 2021/2022 post-pandemic school year. The posture examination was based on Kasperczyk's limited visual scoring method. BMI was calculated, classifying children into three categories: deficiency, norm, excess.
Results: Ten sets of postural dysfunctions and eight subsets were found among the pre-schoolers studied – a total of 245, including 141 in girls and 104 in boys. The most common defect was asymmetric and/or protracted shoulder positioning (65% of the children studied). Girls predominated (25, representing 41.67% of the study sample and 83.33% of the total girls). These proportions, concerning the 14 boys, are respectively: 23.33% and 46.66%. The difference in proportions is statistically significant (p<0.05).
Conclusions: There is no basis for concluding that COVID-19 pandemic significantly increased postural defects among 5-6 year-old pre-schoolers. The extended analysis of the phenomenon of postural defects and associated with BMI indices shows the prospect of further exploration based on a complementary approach. We consider it necessary to enrich this research with elements of estimating the physical fitness of the subjects along with their daily and weekly physical activity and diet quality. In our opinion, such knowledge should form the basis for the development of individualised intervention programmes.
Key words: asymmetric shoulder positioning, BMI, physical activity, protracted shoulder positioning
