Postural deviations in spine of children between 7-8 years of age

• Grant number: 05/02002-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2005
• End date: December 31, 2006
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy
• Principal Investigator: Sílvia Maria Amado João
• Grantee: Marina Baldini
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FM). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Physiologic postural alterations occur during the normal individual development and appear on the backbone. Between 7 and 14 years of age, the bone system suffers the biggest alterations, favoring both bone deformities and its correction. There are intrinsic and extrinsic factors that can influence the subject´s posture, such as hereditary, the environment or physical conditions in which the subject lives, emotional factors, and physiologic alterations due to human growth and development. Considering that almost all postural problems start in childhood and are the second most often cause of work tearing, this type of studies are very important to alert teachers and to enable early diagnosis. For this study, 100 children between 7 and 8 years of age from municipal schools of Amparo city/SP will be selected and assessed. Photos of each subject in the sagittal and frontal planes will be examined for postural deviations. The lumbar, thoracic, cervical curves and occasional scoliosis curve will be measured, with the help of guide lines drawn with CorelDraw v. 10.0 software, based on reference lines of simetrógrafo and marked bone references. The purpose of this study is the characterization of the postural alterations in spine of 7-8 years of age in children to provide information to parents and teachers about the problem of bad posture. (AU)