Prental perception of children's posture during puberty

PARENTAL PERCEPTION OF CHILDREN’S POSTURE DURING PUBERTY Biancalana Vincenzo°, Nart Alessandra° Faculty of Health and physical exercise at “Carlo Bo” University - Urbino Introduction The postural observation during puberty, is extremely important for the early detection of the morphological changes, which are related to the pupil’s mental and physical development. The early diagnose, has a crucial rule in adolescence, which is a period in which the individual experiences a lot of bodily changes and transformations. This study case, aims to examine by comparison, between the parent’s statements about their child’s postural condition and the objective assessment, resulting from the morphological-functional examination. Methods The participants who engaged into this research, were 200 students, with average age of 11 years, attending the first year of the secondary school of Urbino – Italy. In order to observe the symmetry of the posture, seven digital pictures were taken for each student, showing frontal and saggital posture, which were subsequently revised using special applications. The case study was then conducted, filling out two separate forms. The first one drawn up by the technical team, aimed to observe the posture, and the second one drawn up by the student’s family, showing each student’s personal case history. The first sheet contained the digital pictures and personal datas of each pupil, relating to his/her anthropometric measurements, BMI (body mass index) and flexibility. The second one, was about the student’s personal history and his potential regressed physical problems. On the same form, was also asked the pupils to indicate how much time they spent on studying, watching TV, practising sports and leisure time and ultimately on which shoulder they were carrying thei schoolbag. Results The final results highlighted that, in view of a percentage of 6%, which was the one affirmed by the parents about the presence of paramorphisms in their kids, from the objective analysis it emerged instead an assessable data, referable to 60%. References Bunnell, WP. (1984). An objective criterion for scoliosis screening, J Bone Joint Surg Am, 66, 1381-7. Pollock, C. (2011). IT Kids part II: Variation of postures and muscles activity in children using different information and communication technologies, National Library of Medicine, 38, 4,413-27. Santos, MM., Silva, MPC., Sanada, LS., Alves CRJ. (2009). Photogrammetric postural analysis on healthy seven to ten-year-olds children: integrate reliability, Rev Bras Fisioter, 13, 4, 350-5.