Evaluation of selected indices of gait asymmetry for the assessment of running asymmetry.

BACKGROUND: The methods of running asymmetry evaluation are not as highly developed as the methods of gait evaluation. RESEARCH QUESTION: Which asymmetry indices used in the gait analysis best characterize the asymmetry of the running movement? METHODS: The kinematics of the sprint in a straight run over a distance of 50 m was evaluated using the X-sens system. Three indices (Ia, IS, SA) were based on discrete values from the first point of contact of the foot with the ground (1% of the running cycle phase) and were called discrete coefficients. Furthermore, two indices (SI, RAI) were used to evaluate asymmetry over the entire running cycle and were termed continuous coefficients. The study examined 21 elite and non-professional middle-distance runners of both sexes. The evaluation of the usefulness of individual indices for the evaluation of gait asymmetry was performed by means of the analysis of ROC curves and evaluation of data scatter on Bland-Altman charts. RESULTS: The values of discrete and continuous asymmetry coefficients were different to each other. In Bland-Altman plots there was a meaningful variety of discrete coefficients and a small variety of continuous coefficients. The analysis of ROC curves proves this assumption. Including the real curve course of angular placement in particular joints it is observed that continuous coefficients describe asymmetry of movement more precisely. SIGNIFICANCE: It was found that the so-called continuous indices SI and RAI ensure the best identification of the phenomenon of movement asymmetry.

Postural stability pattern as an important safety factor of firefighters.

BACKGROUND: Firefighting is a hazardous profession that involves high fall risk and is crucial component for the safety of people. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify factors that impact on postural stability patterns of firefighters. METHODS: The study examined 177 Polish firefighters from the National Firefighting and Rescue System (NFRS) aged 31.9±10.1 years, with body height of 179.6±5.93, body mass of 83.9±11.0 and BMI of 26.0±3.03. Postural stability was evaluated by means of the Balance System SD (Biodex USA) set at the level 12 of instability, in a sportswear, bunker gear, with and without visual input. The fall risk test (FRI) was also performed. Four indices were analysed: overall stability index (OSI), anterior-posterior stability index (APSI), medial-lateral stability index (MLSI), and fall risk index (FRI). RESULTS: Mean results for fall risk index (FRI) were in the normal range for all age groups regardless of the type of clothing the firefighters were wearing. Individual results obtained in the fall risk test, 128 firefighters were in the normal range for their age, furthermore, 10 firefighters obtained better results than the normal range, 34 firefighters had worse results and 5 people failed to complete the test. Postural stability with eyes closed was found to decline with age. Wearing bunker gear did not have an effect on postural stability. CONCLUSIONS: Balance tests should be integrated into the firefighting training routines in order to improve balance and support fall prevention. Exercises with reduced visual input should also be incorporated into the training methodology.

LEVEL OF SOMATIC DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN AGED SIX YEARS FROM AN URBAN AGGLOMERATION IN POLAND WITH RESPECT TO SELECTED ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS.

The aim of this study was to assess the somatic development of children from an urban agglomeration in Poland at the end of preschool education and the beginning of primary education with respect to selected socioeconomic and educational conditions. Data were collected for 742 children from selected Warsaw kindergartens in spring 2011 and 2012. Their mean age was 5.84±0.31 years. The sex categories were equal: 371 boys and 371 girls. Kindergartens chosen for the study constituted a representative sample. The diagnostic survey method (questionnaire technique) was used to assess the selected environmental conditions of development in the participating children. Body height and the sum of six skin folds (over the biceps, over the triceps, under the scapula, on the abdomen, over the wing of ilium and on the calf) were chosen from the assessed anthropometric parameters for the purpose of determining somatic development of study participants. The obtained data were analysed using selected descriptive statistics methods (including cluster analysis), data standardization (normalization by mean values and SD) and the chi-squared test. The results showed certain relationships between the selected parameters of somatic development and family living conditions. These relationships involved differences between individual clusters depending on given living conditions and were most prominent for mother's education, for which variable differences between clusters were found for both sexes. The somatic build of boys (including body height and body adiposity) also differed depending on the number of offspring in the family, while the somatic build of girls differed depending on father's employment and father's education. Furthermore, the obtained results lead to the conclusion that the total number of differences between the analysed clusters was relatively low. This indicates that the biological effects of social stratification tend to diminish in the environment of an urban agglomeration.

Analysis of selected anthropometric parameters of 6-year-old children in Warsaw compared to the peer population in the years 1996-1999.

INTRODUCTION: Beside the positive tendencies in somatic development seen in the population of children and adolescents in Poland (e.g. the trend of increasing body height that has continued over many years), certain unfavorable phenomena are also observed. In recent decades, disorders connected with a deficiency or excess of body mass - excessive adiposity in particular - have become important health and social problems. This poses a considerable threat for being overweight, for obesity, and for other diseases of civilization. AIM OF THE STUDY: The research targeted the evaluation of selected anthropometric parameters: height-weight indices, circumferences, and skinfold thicknesses in the population of 6-year-old children in Warsaw in comparison with their peer population in 1996-1999, as well as estimation of the frequency of abnormal percentile values of the aforementioned anthropometric parameters: values below the 10th percentile and above the 90th percentile. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The research included a sample of 160 randomly chosen children (81 boys and 79 girls) born in 2005 who attended public and private kindergartens in Warsaw. The average age of this group was 5.71 ± 0.28 years. The study was carried out in the first quarter of 2011. The following somatic parameters were measured: body height, body mass, chest and arm circumference, triceps, and subscapular and abdominal skinfold thickness. The height-weight indices including Rohrer's Index and Body Mass Index (BMI) were calculated. Using a method of normalization of numerical data, the obtained measurements were compared to the measurements of the peer population (n=233) from 1996 to 1999, and the significance of differences between mean values in both groups was assessed with Student's t-tests. The percentage tables with the ranges of the below normative (<10th percentile) and above normative (>90th percentile) percentile values of the studied parameters and indices were prepared on the basis of the percentile charts that presented the anthropometric parameters of children in Warsaw 12-15 years prior to this research. RESULTS: Results especially worth underscoring are higher skinfold thickness values for children who took part in the research compared to the peer population examined in 1996-1999. This tendency was more typical of girls than boys and was observed mostly in subscapular skinfold thickness. Some of the differences between the studied population and the control group were statistically significant (girls: triceps skinfold thickness p <0.05, subscapular skinfold thickness p <0.01, sum of 3 skinfolds p <0.05; boys: subscapular skinfold thickness p <0.01). CONCLUSIONS: During the last 12-15 years, a certain tendency for greater body fatness in 6-year-old children in Warsaw has been noticed. In the present research, the alarming symptoms that indicate the threat for being overweight and for obesity were observed on the basis of measurement of skinfold thickness. However, these symptoms were not found in the case of the analysis of selected height-weight indices. The relatively high percentages of extreme values (values below the 10th percentile and above the 90th percentile) of the analyzed parameters suggest that there are many children with a non-normative somatic build in the examined group.

[Posture in Turner syndrome patients]. / Postawa ciala w zespole Turnera.

INTRODUCTION: Turner syndrome (TS) is a chromosomal disease regarded as the most common cause of pathological short stature in women. TS patients frequently present with abnormalities in the structure of the vertebrae and limb bones, leading to this assessment of posture in girls and women with TS. AIM OF THE STUDY: Assessment of posture in TS patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Posture was assessed in 63 TS patients ranging between 6-27 years of age. All patients under 16 years of age were undergoing treatment with recombinant human growth hormone. The older patients had received the treatment in the past and were undergoing oestrogen or combined oestrogen and progesterone treatment. The TS diagnosis was confirmed in each case by a cytogenetic study. Two methods of posture assessment were used: Moire's photogrammetric (in 68% patients) or an orthopaedic examination (in 32% of patients). Posture was assessed in the median and frontal planes. RESULTS: The photogrammetric assessment in the median plane found normal posture among 30% of patients, 33% of patients exhibited lordosis, while 28% of patients exhibited kyphosis. Orthopaedic examination in the medial plane found normal posture among half of patients under 16 years of age, while all the older patients (n=4) exhibited faulty posture. Clinical examination found more cases of kyphosis than other posture defects. In the frontal plane over half of all patients were found to have scoliosis, irrespective of patient's age or method used. CONCLUSIONS: Because of the numerous and diverse posture defects found in the studied patients, routine assessment of posture in all TS patients is recommended. From the clinical perspective it seems that a single method of posture assessment in TS patients is recommended to simplify comparison of assessment results and improve understanding of the frequency of incidence of individual posture defects in TS patients.

[Physical fitness and body posture of 7-years-old children with extreme somatic parameters]. / Sprawnosc fizyczna i postawa ciala 7-letnich dzieci o skrajnych parametrach somatycznych.

INTRODUCTION: This work is connected with chosen aspects of school readiness. This term means adequate state of child development which makes its receptive to systematic education. School readiness includes--besides psychical, emotional and social--also somatic and motor elements. AIM OF THE STUDY: To assess the level of physical fitness and body posture of 7-years-old children with extreme somatic parameters. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A group of 524 children (245 girls and 279 boys) aged 6.86 (+/- 0.35) were examined. Body height and mass were measured and percentile individual positions were determined. Physical fitness test was also used (bend trunk, shuttle run 4 x 5 m, standing long jump, sit ups, throw of medical ball) and visual technique of body posture diagnosing was carried out. The basic statistical methods were applied. RESULTS: Worse results in some physical fitness tests (bend trunk, shuttle run 4 x 5 m, sit ups, throw) were obtained by children with extreme body mass index (BMI) against a background of peers. The most specific defects of body posture of children with atypical somatic structure appeared: on knees and feet, in the group of children with higher body-weight proportions, more often among boys than girls. CONCLUSIONS: Extreme height-mass parameters were more significantly reflected in physical fitness level of examined children than tall-stature or deficiency of body height. Whereas among equivocal interrelations between body posture and extreme somatic parameters stood out tendency to intensification of knees and feet defects among children with high BMI.

[Health school readiness of overweight and obese children against a background of peers]. / Zdrowotna gotowosc szkolna dzieci z nadwaga i otyloscia na tle grupy rówiesniczej.

UNLABELLED: The aim of this work is to estimate the frequency of overweight and obesity phenomena among 6-7 y. o. rural and urban children and to assess physical fitness and body posture of these girls and boys against a background of peers. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The researches were conducted on 524 children: 279 boys and 245 girls from village and city. The used methods were: anthropometric measurements (body height and mass), simple physical fitness tests, the examination of body posture, poll technique and basic statistical methods. RESULTS: Altogether 9,9% of children from examined group are burdened with overweight or obesity. The analysis shows that this phenomenon is more typical for boys than for girls and that the frequency of overweight and obesity is similar in rural and urban environment. Generally socio-economic and educational status of their families is an average or moderately profitable, in most. The physical fitness level of these children is lower as against a group of peers. Crooked knees, deeper lordosis curve, emphasized stomach and buttocks, platypodia and flat-crooked feet occur more often than among the rest 6-7 y.o. examined girls and boys. CONCLUSIONS: Negative consequences of somatic disturbances were noticed in health school readiness of overweight and obese children. These effects manifest themselves in lower physical fitness and worse quality of body posture, against a group of peers. Family and school environment should make an effort to counteract overweight and obesity and to support posture genesis of children with this health problem.

[Health school readiness of short-statured rural and urban children against of peers' background]. / Zdrowotna gotowosc szkolna niskoroslych dzieci miejskich i wiejskich na tle grupy rówiesniczej.

THE AIM OF THIS WORK: is to estimate the frequency of short-stature phenomena,s among 6-7 y.o. rural and urban children and to assess the physical fitness and body posture of short-statured girls and boys against of peers, background. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The researches were conducted on 436 children: 232 boys and 204 girls from village and city. The used methods were: anthropometric measurements (body height), simple physical fitness tests, the examination of body posture, poll technique and basic statistical methods. RESULTS: The analysis show that there are differences in the frequency of short-stature phenomena,s between girls and boys and between rural and urban children. Taking into consideration developmental age, the level of physical fitness of short-statured children is in "narrow norm" (between 25% and 75% of population) most often. Body posture of short-statured 6-7 y.o. children is characterized by typical features in this ontogenesis period: crooked knees, flat-crooked feet, protruding shoulder blades, emphasized stomach, asymmetrical shoulders and shoulder blades, staggering. CONCLUSIONS: There is a need of systematical monitoring of the biological development of short-statured children, particularly taking into consideration girls and boys whose physical fitness level is weak and body posture is incorrect, and also that kind of children, who grow in families with a low social-economic and educational status.