In matters of child health, little things do not happen. And even if everything seems to be in order, the child is healthy, cheerful and cheerful, this does not mean that intractable changes do not ripen inside his body, which will be told much later. We have in mind problems with posture. Unfortunately, the violation of posture in preschool children is a problem for thousands and thousands of parents. But you can cope with it! The main thing is not to be late.
According to statistics, 40% of children suffer from curvature of the spine, and girls are much more likely than boys. Today, when the TV and computer gradually replace sport from the life of our children, and in the school teachers do not pay much attention to how the child sits at the desk because of the heavy workload, parents should be on guard to identify the disease in the bud.
What is fraught with a wrong posture?
Look closely at how your child sits at the table while drawing or playing computer games. Is his posture correct, does he not stoop? If you put it exactly at the wall, do not you think that one shoulder of a child is slightly higher than the other? If at least one of the questions you answered "yes", you need, without delay, to turn to the orthopedist. After all, after 16-17 years to correct the posture will be very, very difficult. And the correct position of the spine is very important! When the curvature is deformed internal organs, in a more mature age there are pain in the back, muscle adhesions, possibly the formation of intervertebral hernias. And from a psychological point of view, a stooped young man or girl has great difficulties in communicating with peers and in his personal life, as if feeling a certain physical defect in his body.
If your child has had a spinal injury, even if it is minor, or in infancy, he has had rickets, your attention to his posture should be doubled. The same situation if the child is inclined to fullness. Maintenance of the trunk in an upright position is ensured by the activity of the extensors of the back and the ligaments of the spine, which in children up to a certain age are not sufficiently developed. And if your child is overweight, it is usually accompanied by a bulging belly, and as a result, the back muscles have additional load. All this leads to the development of incorrect posture and the vulnerability of the whole spine as a whole: a heavy abdomen, as it were, pulls the lumbar region of the spine forward, and the chest belly - backwards, a deflection is formed in the lower back, the spine quickly gets used to the wrong position, muscles weaken.
Correction of posture
Pre-school children rarely have fixed forms of curvature of the spine, their muscles and ligaments are still elastic, and if necessary, the baby can straighten, spread his shoulders, and the round back will disappear. But soon the muscles will get tired, and the child will take the old, relaxed pose. Therefore, it is necessary to permanently and systematically strengthen the muscles of the trunk. For this, of course, systematic sports are very important. Very useful aerobics, choreography, ballroom dancing and, of course, swimming. But football and football, so beloved by boys, are very traumatic both for the spine and for the whole immature baby organism as a whole. In addition, nascent deformities of the spine can be corrected at home using special exercises. Of course, it is first necessary to consult a doctor and conduct tests according to his prescriptions: X-ray or magnetic resonance imaging. Of course, the second examination is somewhat more expensive, but in the case of MRI the child is rid of the dose of X-rays, and according to MRI pictures the doctor sees not only the problems of bone tissue of the spine, as in the case of X-rays, but also the incorrect position of the muscles and ligaments. Therefore, the diagnosis will be more precise and the prescribed treatment will certainly bear fruit.
So, as a way to prevent violations of posture or correction of initial deformations, in addition to the already proven exercises, you can also offer the following:
1. Have the child lean against the wall in such a way that the back of the head, shoulder blades and buttocks are firmly pressed against the surface. Let him slowly sit down and straighten up several times. At first the child can be quite difficult to maintain balance - this is also a sign of emerging problems with posture. Exercise should be repeated several times a day;
2. When preparing lessons or playing at a computer, make sure that the child gets up every half hour. Let him at least go around the table 3-4 times;
3. To raise the tone of the back muscles it is sometimes useful to straighten the back, turn your head to the right and left and back and forth. Not quickly, so as not to dizzy!
The next set of exercises can be performed both sitting and standing.
1. Sit the child on the tip of the chair so that the back, hips and shins are at right angles to each other, let him freely lower his arms and slightly bend his shoulders. Ask him to simultaneously stretch the calves of the legs, the muscles of the abdomen and back, the shoulders bend as far as possible backwards so that the shoulder blades touch and tilt the head. Not sharply, so as not to injure the cervical vertebrae! Let him sit for a few seconds in such a strained state, then relax again. Repeat several times.
2. Ask the child to stand up from the chair, connect the heels, strain the knees, buttocks and abdominal muscles. Now let him rise on his toes as high as he can, stretch the whole body and then slowly relax. Exercises should be repeated for a long time.
Complex cases
Alas, not always parents on time notice that their child has problems with the spine. Sometimes the consequences of violation of posture in preschool children by this point have gone so far that simple physical therapy can not do anything. The child strongly slouches, complains of pains in the back, one shoulder is much higher than the other, in the most severe cases, the spine begins to resemble a hump. But modern medicine has also learned to solve these problems. There are many methods of correcting even the most neglected problems with the spine, especially if the child is not yet 15 years old.
The doctor will prescribe to the child a corset, a shawl collar, a belt or a declinator. These products are made to order for a specific figure with certain problems of the spine.
Massage is not useful. Take into account the opinion of experienced masseurs. They believe that, no matter how the back of the patient is triggered, it should not experience pain during the massage - only some soreness. And if the child complains that his communication with the masseur reminds Chinese torture, look for another specialist - this one will only hurt your child.
Manual therapy for children is contraindicated, because children's vertebrae are not yet completely made up of bone and have cartilaginous elements. If they are deformed, then when the manual therapist tries to put them in place, an even greater stretching of the ligamentous apparatus will occur.
The physician can prescribe to the child physiotherapeutic procedures or acupuncture. "Needles" will relieve excessive muscle tension and improve the microstructure of tissues, physiotherapy will restore the elasticity of muscles and ligaments.
The main role in the correction of posture still remains for therapeutic exercise. But in neglected cases, it can be carried out only under the supervision of a physician. And although orthopedists believe that scoliosis can not be completely cured, you still should not give up. Quite really complex treatment to achieve a significant correction of posture - the transition from a greater degree of curvature to a smaller, less pain in the back.
And in the most difficult situations can only help surgical intervention. But this is only possible in adulthood. In addition, surgery is a big risk. Such operations are complex and fraught with a decline in performance for a long time.
Conclusion
Do not be tired of reminding your child about the need to level your posture, keep straight, take your shoulders back and observe the straight position of your torso to your head. Do not be afraid to be a bore! Let for you and your child get into the habit of periodically postponing games, getting distracted from the computer and conducting small physical exercises, consisting of the exercises mentioned in our article. And then the reward for all your efforts will be a healthy and normally developing child.
OPINION EXPERT
Valery Semyonovich Prohornya, orthopedic physician
Problems with the spine are often associated with heredity, so if you have a bad posture, one of the parents is likely that the child will also have a back problem. Therefore it is important to regularly show it to an orthopedic doctor. It is best to do this every three years from the age of 3 years. Often, such diseases of the spine, as scoliosis and stoop, develop in the child from constant sitting in the same pose. Muscles cease to develop and can not hold weight. Correct posture will be if the table is just below the level of the solar plexus. Then the child does not need to lean heavily, or, conversely, to stretch out from under the countertop. It is better to choose a chair so that the whole back rests on the back, not just its upper part.