Effects of the ,,School on the move'' program on postural status of younger school age students

Abstract

In order to determine the effects of the "School on the Move" program on the postural status of students, a survey was conducted on a sample of 22 younger school age students of both sexes for the duration of one school semester. Students were given lectures on ergonomic risk and ways of reducing ergonomic risk factors, and a number of posters and flyers with proper lifting, bag-wearing and sitting techniques were distributed. The "School on the Move" ergonomic program encouraged students to move freely on their chair or to stand up and stretch when they experienced discomfort/pain, or perform a few brief stretching exercises while sitting on their chair. The postural status of the spine was assessed in the sagittal and frontal plane (thoracic and lumbar scoliosis, kyphosis and lordosis) by the "Spinal mouse" instrument (Quantum Health and Wellness Ltd, Wallasay, England). A repeated measures ANOVA was used for statistical data processing. The results showed that during the 16-week period, there was a significant improvement in the reduction of thoracic scoliosis (p=0.003) and kyphosis (p=0.006), while there were no significant changes in the lumbar scoliosis and lordosis. On the basis of these results, it could be concluded that such a program could have a significant impact on the posture improvement of the spinal column, and that it can be practically applied in the school curriculum as a preventive measure for spinal postural status disturbance of younger school age students.

Keywords

• postural status
• students
• younger school age
• "school on the move" program