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The main goal of the study was to determine the types of body posture of boys (n = 273), 10 to 13 years of age, by means of the body posture assessment method based on the software Posture Image Analyzer. The results should enable better understanding of postural issues, as well as timely and more precise selection of kinesitherapeutic procedures. Values of 5 front view and 4 sagittal view indicators of standing body posture were measured by means of subjects' photographs and software Image Posture Analyzer Cluster analysis (K-means method) revealed three types of body posture in both the anterior and sagittal plane. Their characteristics were determined with discriminant analysis. In sagittal indicators three posture types are recognizable: (a) correct sagittal body posture (29.3%), (b) mild impaired sagittal body posture (41.8%), (c) marked impaired sagittal body posture (28.9%). In anterior indicators also three posture types are recognizable: (a) correct anterior body posture (19.4%), (b) mild scoliotic body posture in the lumbar region (47.6%), (c) mild scoliotic body posture with double curvature (33%).

Objective: A high prevalence of poor standing posture among elementary schoolchildren indicates the need for the introduction of school-based interventions for improvement of postural alignments. For assessing the effect of intervention programs, reliable quantitative measures of standing posture should be used. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the reliability of a photographic method for assessment of standing posture among elementary schoolchildren., Methods: The study was conducted on a convenience sample of 273 male students between 10 and 13 years old. Each subject was photographed in habitual standing posture, 3 times in a front view and 3 times in a side view. Deviations from ideal postural alignment were calculated with Posture Image Analyzer software and UTHSCSA ImageTool software. Interitem reliability was estimated using intraclass correlation coefficient., Results: Intraclass correlation coefficients for posture deviations assessed with Posture Image Analyzer ranged from 0.81 for knee joints deviation and ankle joints deviation in the coronal plane to 0.92 for trunk deviation and knee joints deviation in the sagittal plane. Intraclass correlation coefficients for posture deviations assessed with UTHSCSA ImageTool ranged from 0.80 for knee joints deviation in the coronal plane to 0.91 for trunk deviation and knee joints deviation in the sagittal plane., Conclusions: This study showed a satisfactory interitem reliability of a photographic method for the assessment of standing posture among elementary schoolchildren., (Copyright 2010 National University of Health Sciences. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.)

With the aim of determining the connection between the indicators of body posture and latent structure of morphological variables in children aged 7 and 8 years, first and second grade of primary school, a set of 17 morphological measures and 12 body posture indicators were longitudinally applied to a sample of 110 boys and 114 girls. The latent structure of morphological variables in both sexes was defined by three factors but at a different order of significance: in boys, the order was longitudinal dimensionality, voluminosity, mass and subcutaneous fat tissue and transverse dimensionality, whereas in girls the order was voluminosity, mass and subcutaneous fat tissue, longitudinal dimensionality and transverse dimensionality. The latent structure of torax body posture indicator was defined by two factors, the status of body posture of the rear part of the thorax, and status of the body posture of the front part of the thorax. The results obtained by canonical correlation analysis between predictive variables, morphological latent structure and criterion variables, latent structure of thorax body posture indicators with two posture indicators of the chest and one of the foot status, showed two important pairs of canonical roots on each measurement, suggesting a significant association between these two sets of parameters.