Effectiveness of a school-based comprehensive intervention on abnormal body posture of adolescents / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#The purpose of this study is to explore a school-based comprehensive intervention for abnormal body posture in adolescents.@*Methods@#The study recruited from 3 senior high schools in Xicheng District of Beijing using random clustering method and randomly divided them into intervention group (n=213) and control group (n=227). The intervention group adopted a comprehensive intervention program for 16 weeks, while the control group maintained normal teaching plan. The comprehensive intervention included distributing booklet regarding body posture, health lectures and corrective exercise in physical classes. Before and after the intervention, forward head posture, shoulder asymmetry, rounded shoulder and sagittal angles of spine of subjects were evaluated.@*Results@#After 16 weeks intervention, shoulder asymmetry [boys(0.98±0.52)(0.70±0.44)cm; girls(1.00±0.67)(0.72±0.44)cm], forward head posture [boys(8.24±2.71)(4.73±2.99)cm; girls(9.14±2.56)(4.39±2.34)cm] and the differences of distance between left and right inferior angel of scapula and spine [boys(0.41±0.39)(0.28±0.30)cm; girls(0.52±0.38)(0.28±0.19)cm] of the intervention group were significantly improved(t=2.33, 3.07, 9.80, 11.51, 2.36, 4.61, P<0.05). The proportion of normal thoracic kyphosis angle and lumbar lordosis angle increased in girls of intervention group (63.4%, 95.7%), while these proportion decreased in boys of intervention group (74.2%, 65.0%).@*Conclusion@#School-based intervention including health education and exercise shows effectiveness on abnormal body posture in adolescents, which is recommended school.