Why should children do posture correction exercises?

As stressed by physicians, the number of children with faulty posture is steadily growing, which results partly from the contemporary lifestyle. According to the data presented by the Institute of Mother and Child, as many as 90 percent of Polish children suffer from various medical problems caused by faulty posture. These concern mainly the colon, knees and feet areas.

What are the causes of faulty posture?

Faulty posture may result from a sedentary lifestyle, unfit furniture, heavy backpacks and bags carried on one shoulder, or incommodious shoes.

“Bad posture is sometimes caused by congenital bone or muscle disorders, or by motor organ injuries. It may also result from an improper motor development in infancy," says Elżbieta Binek, MD PhD, a paediatric physiotherapist from the DAMIANA Medical Centre.

Once diagnosed in a child, faulty posture requires a personalised corrective treatment.

How can correction exercises help?

“The main goal of posture improvement classes is to correct the child’s faulty posture, and to either restore the appropriate posture, or to prevent further faults," explains doctor Binek.

She emphasises that each child requires choosing an adequate set of exercises, depending on the fault.

During personalised classes, a physiotherapist supervises the proper course of exercises, and can correct any errors on an ongoing basis. The duration of exercises should be determined individually, depending on the posture fault.

“Posture improvement classes, which usually take place once a week, are not enough. To achieve the intended result, exercises must be done systematically at home," reminds doctor Binek.

She stresses that parents should provide adequate support and motivation. “If parents provide their assistance with corrective exercises for at least 15-20 minutes a day, it will be much easier for their child to stick to this routine," suggests the doctor.

What may result from untreated bad posture?

Untreated bad posture may lead to further deformation and future complications.

Dr Tomasz Poboży, an orthopaedist surgeon from the Medicover Hospital, provides the following example of such a process: Flat foot coupled with valgus heels may cause acute feet pains and lead to future foot joints degeneration, or to a non-axial burden on knee and hip joints which may then result in joints degeneration. Furthermore, an improper joints motility and contraction may have an adverse impact on vertebral synovial joints.

As stressed by doctor Poboży, such complications may not be limited to the motor system.

“The progressing curvature, especially when it starts in early childhood, may cause chest deformations. These may, in turn, hinder ventilation processes in certain rib-cage areas, limit breeding efficiency and foster lower respiratory tract infections," warns the doctor.