title: Monitoring the prevalence of postural changes in schoolchildren.
abstract: [Purpose] The aim of this study was to identify whether postural changes are prevalent with advancing age using a photogrammetric method performing one-year follow-up study. [Subjects and Methods] Thirty-eight schoolchildren were evaluated in 2011 and 2012 in this cohort study. The subjects underwent a postural evaluation, which involved palpation of reference anatomic points, placement of reflexive markers over the anatomic points, image acquisition, and point digitalization using the Digital Image-based Postural Assessment evaluation software. For data analysis, descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were analyzed by McNemar's test. [Results] The results showed a significant increase in postural change prevalence for the lumbar spine in the sagittal plane (from 42.2% to 81.6%) and the knees in the frontal plane (from 39.5% to 63.2%) and a significant decrease in the prevalence of scoliosis (from 68.5% to 42.2%). [Conclusion] The findings indicate an increase in the prevalence of postural changes in schoolchildren from Teutônia, RS, Brazil, in 2012 compared with 2011. The development of longitudinal investigations for long-term monitoring of the evolution of posture and of schoolchildren habits's representing a viable alternative to subsidize health actions.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: Bruna
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nichele da Rosa
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Federal Institute of Goias: Ceres, Goias 76310-000, Brazil.
authors.forename: Matias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Noll
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: Juliana Adami
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Sedrez
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: Tassia Silveira
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Furlanetto
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: Claudia Tarrago
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Candotti
keywords: Assessment; Posture; Prevalence; Schoolchildren