Postural misalignments in school students: comparisons between gender, school cycles and body composition

Abstract The prevalence of postural misalignments in children and young people is markedly increasing and schools can play a leading role in its early detection. This study aimed to carry out a postural assessment of the spine and shoulder and pelvic girdles in 162 school students (82 males and 80 females), aged between 10 and 15 years, comparing, afterwards, these postural misalignments between gender, schooling cycles and body composition. A symmetrograph was used to carry out the postural assessment by visual scan analysis and the Adams Test. All subjects revealed a high percentage of postural misalignments. The highest prevalence was observed in the posterior view of the frontal plane in the right shoulder elevation, dorsal and cervical scoliosis, whereas, in the right view of the sagittal plane forward head posture, protracted shoulders and dorsal hyperkyphosis were the most observed. The main findings in the comparison between gender were that males revealed significantly higher levels of shoulder protrusion (X2 = 13.508; p = 0.001), dorsal hyperkyphosis (X2 = 10.080; p = 0.006) and positive Adams test (X2 = 9.481; p = 0.009). Between schooling cycles, 3rd cycle students revealed significantly higher levels of forward head posture (X2 = 10.603; p = 0.001), dorsal hyperkyphosis (X2 = 8.314; p = 0.016) and lumbar scoliosis (X2 = 7.752; p = 0.005), while those in the 2nd showed greater pelvic anteversion (X2 = 20.109; p < 0.001). Students outside the body mass index (BMI) healthy zone demonstrated significantly higher levels of forward head posture (X2 = 6.821; p = 0.033), dorsal hyperkyphosis (X2 = 14,727; p = 0.005) and pelvic anteversion (X2 = 10.156; p = 0.038), the latter being also significantly evidenced by those outside the body fat percentage (BF%) healthy zone (X2 = 12.371; p = 0.015). A wide variety of postural misalignments was found in both genders, with a higher prevalence in boys. There was a tendency for misalignment’s prevalence increase with the schooling cycles progression, as well as the highest levels of obesity seem to be related with their highest prevalence. These results strongly emphasize the need and the importance of postural assessment in physical education (PE) classes to determine postural misalignments among school students.