[Estimation of the influence of the design of school backpacks to posture regulation in children with different posture conditions].

There was performed the study of the characteristics of the regulation of vertical posture in 42 children of 8-10 years old using school bags of different designs. According to medical examination 25 children have normal posture and 17 children had kyphotic one. The stability of the posture was estimated according to the average variance and the average velocity of the total center of gravity of the body, the area of the ellipse, and the quality of the equilibrium function with computer stabilography. Three models of school bags were used - with traditional, ergonomic and orthopedic back support. Vertical posture stability for children with impaired posture without school bag and when used with traditional and ergonomic back were significantly lower in comparison with children with normal posture. When the orthopedic back was used the stability impairment of the vertical posture in children with kyphotic posture was not observed. It is concluded that for the prevention of spinal deformity for students with kyphotic posture orthopedic school bags should be used.

[Medical, educational and neurophysiological prerequisites to the formation of the motivation to exercises in students].

A characteristic feature of the life activity of modern children and adolescents is the couch potato, mostly "sedentary" lifestyle. Biomedical and psychosocial significance of motor activity (MA) stipulates the necessity of the substantiation of scientific and methodological approaches to the formation of the motivation to exercises and sports in children. The purpose of the study was in the scientific substantiation and the delivery of medical, pedagogical and neurophysiological prerequisites for the formation of the motivation to increase MA in students in current conditions of their life activity. There were examined 189 students from 2-5th and 9th classes, out of them 65 students were observed in the dynamics of the school year; 585 students from the 1st-11th classes participated in the survey. Results of the study allowed to reveal the relation of students to the lessons of physical training, to evaluate the impact of a new educational program on the functional possibilities of the body of children from the special medical group "A" and to reveal the neurophysiological features of adolescents with different needs in motion.

[Hygienic assessment of organization of motor activity in primary class pupils of full-day schools].

The impact of a routine with the traditional organization of motor activity, a more extensive motor regimen with additional lessons of physical training, eurhythmics, and swimming, as well as a motor regimen of prophylactic and health-improving orientation of the Health School, which is at the most integrated into an educational process, on exercise performance, lung capacity, carpal muscle strength, physical fitness, and nonspecific resistance was studied in 156 first-to-second-form pupils at a two-year follow-up. The traditional motor regimen was found to fail to significantly increase functional parameters. Higher increment rates of the study parameters were observed with the extensive motor regimen. The Health School motor regimen providing a uniform motor activity distribution in the first and second half of a day and a predominance of a dynamic component over a statistical one was also favorable to the maintenance of increment rates of the parameters at 2 years of the follow-up, which implies the developing nature of this regimen. Hygienic recommendations to optimize the traditional motor regimen were worked out for full-day school pupils.

[The specific features of present-day children's physical development in the estimation of the functional sizes of furniture for pupils].

The authors made mass anthropometric surveys in 923 first-to-fourth-form pupils and determined the values of 5 variables for height groups 2, 3, and 4, used to justify the functional sizes of furniture for pupils: the length of a shoulder slope above the seat, that of an elbow slope above the seat, that of a popliteal space slope above the floor, the distance from the chair hack to the popliteal space, and the highest pelvic width. Differences were found in the anthropometric values in the present-day junior pupils and the equals in age of the early 1970s. The present-day children are characterized by changes in body proportions (a decrease in height and an increase in the length of the shin and femur), which should be kept in mind on optimizing the working place of pupils. It is suggested that popliteal space length rather than the currently applied height should be used as a fitting ratio of anthropometric characteristics to the functional sizes of furniture for pupils.

[Functional stability of the vertical posture in children depending on foot arch condition].

Functional stability of the vertical posture was evaluated in 112 children aged 7-10 years with normal or flattened arch of foot and platypodia. The following parameters were measured in each child during 20 s by a Stabilan 01 computerized stabilograph: stabilogram, average frequency of centre of pressure changes, mean dispersion (R), oscillation period, and ellipse area (S). Children with flattened foot arch had lower vertical posture stability (estimated from amplitude characteristics of changes of the foot pressure centre, R and S) than those with normal foot arch or platypodia. Children of the latter group showed the highest stability and the minimal oscillation period. It is supposed that difference in functional stability of the vertical posture in children with different foot arch conditions is due to different mechanisms of its regulation. The above findings can be used to design orthopedic footwear compensating for impaired stability of the vertical posture in children with flattened arch of the foot.

[Hygienic requirements for the sizes of furniture for junior pupils].

The paper gives the results of anthropometric surveys in present-day junior pupils. It shows the distribution of junior pupils by the height groups and the ergonomic signs that determine the required functional sizes of furniture for pupils.

[The prevalence and pattern of locomotor disorders in senior pupils].

The study deals with the analysis of the prevalence of disorders of the locomotor apparatus (LMA) in senior schoolchildren from 9th-to-11th-forms of various general educational establishments, such as a secondary general educational school, a technical lyceum (general educational and specialized classes), and a physical engineering school. The academic load, educational conditions, and teaching methods in each establishment differed and conformed to the implemented school-based educational program. Sixty hundred and eighteen senior schoolchildren were examined. In the senior pupils of the physical engineering school the educational program of which is characterized by increased academic loads, the prevalence of scoliotic deformity of the spine was found to be 3-5 times greater than that in those of the secondary general educational school. The higher prevalence of LMA disorders in the pupils from the general educational classes of the technical lyceum (8.6- and 3-fold in boys and girls, respectively) is indicative of the leading influence of a social factor on the development of scoliotic deformity. The impact of increased academic loads on the MDA is also suggested by the difference in the incidence of MDA disorders among the pupils of general educational and specialized classes of the technical lyceum. Emphasis is laid on the need for taking into account the findings to substantiate comprehensive preventive programs and health-improving measures in the educational establishments.

[New technological means in medical diagnosis]. / Novye tekhnologicheskie sredstva v meditsinskoi diagnostike.

Diagnostic methods using a Pulsar radar measuring computer unit have been developed. The methods are based on the contactless recording of respiratory parameters and pulse and they evaluate human body's functions in real time from the measurements of the duration of cardiac rhythms and calculate the differential function of their distribution and the spectrum of a cardiac rhythmogram.

[Hygienic rationale for the allowable weight load of a daily training complex for schoolchildren]. / Gigienicheskoe obosnovanie dopustimogo vesa ezhednevnogo uchebnogo komplekta dlia shkol'nikov.

Computed posturography (stabilography) was used to examine the locomotor function of 165 children from 1-11 forms under the influence of different real and model loads. Analysis of age-specific changes in their upright stability (by the data on the lateral velocity of the body's oscillations) yielded allowable load weights of a daily complete set for schoolchildren.

[Relationship between indicators of equilibrium function and spatial-form perception in children with posture disorders]. / Vzaimosviaz' pokazatelei funktsii ravnovesiia i prostranstvenno-obraznogo myshleniia u detei s narusheniiami osanki.

The balance function and spatial-figurative thinking (SFT) of children aged 7 to 9 with and without disturbances of bearing were studied. A negative correlation was revealed between balance function and SFT in children with disordered bearing. The results of this study should be taken into account when carrying out hygienic measures for the prevention of bearing disorders in children.

[Characteristics of equilibrium function in preschool children with bearing disorders]. / Kharakteristika funktsii ravnovesiia u doshkol'nikov s narusheniiami osanki.

The fluctuations of gravity centre projection of a child's body were studied by computer stabilograph. Investigations showed that children with bearing disorders have lower indices of static and dynamic components of balance function. This results should be taken into account when carrying out hygienic measures aimed at prevention of bearing disturbances in children.

[Hygienic principles of the optimal arrangement of working place for students during the training in computer use]. / Gigienicheskie osnovy optimizatsii rabochego mesta shkol'nika za komp'iuterom.

Experimental studies aimed at hygienic substantiation of requirements for optimal organization of a workplace for schoolchildren using computers have been carried out. Hygienic requirements for basic parameters and design of a desk and a chair intended for those working with computers are presented. Practical recommendations on the equipment of computer rooms in secondary schools are given.