Does bad posture affect the standing balance?

Abstract

Introduction: Bad posture is a well-known problem in children and adolescents, and it has a negative effect in adulthood. It can be hypothesized that due to bad posture, changes in the body’s position cause changes in standing balance. Objective: The objective of the study is to determine the influence of bad posture on the standing balance of school-aged children based on independent time–distance- and frequency-based foot centre-of-pressure parameters. Subjects and Methods: Subjects included 171 children (113 with neutral posture (70 boys and 73 girls), mean age: 10.7 ± 1.1 years (range: 9–13), and 68 with bad posture (22 boys and 46 girls), mean age: 10.7 ± 1.2 (range: 9–13)). The parameters were derived from the motion of the centre of pressure on a platform equipped with pressure sensors, on which the subjects were standing for 60 s with both feet and open eyes. Results: When comparing the two groups, the load distribution difference between the legs and the medium–high-frequency band power ratio in the mediolateral direction showed a significant difference out of 17 centre-of-pressure parameters. However, the other 15 parameters did not show any significant differences. Conclusion: There is no clearly significant degradation of postural control in children with bad posture, as the effects of altered posture are continuously corrected by the central nervous system. The asymmetric load between the two sides may further degrade muscular imbalance; thus, correcting bad posture is an important task of physiotherapy.

Keywords

• standing balance
• cop
• children
• bad posture