Summer is winding down and it's back to school time. Going back to school presents several challenges for students of different ages that can negatively affect their posture and health. Here are the challenges preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school, and college/graduate school students face and how to combat them:
Preschool age children:
In the preschool age group I am going to include every child from 1-year-olds in day care to 5-year-olds in preschool. Early childhood education and Head Start programs have been shown to be very beneficial in helping children learn specific skills like phonics and counting and broad skills related to social interaction and emotions. Children who participate in preschool have higher test scores all the way through 5th grade. But there are some negative effects of putting young children in preschool.
Children aged 1 to 5 would naturally spend most of their day crawling, squatting, climbing, walking, and running while exploring the world around them and any preschool will increase the amount of sitting children do, which means less time moving. Preschool starts "teaching" children that sitting still is "good", and they learn the opposite (exploring and being active) is "bad". Going to preschool almost always means your toddler will be wearing shoes for a significant part of the day and this starts to weaken and deform their perfect feet.
Children aged 1 to 5 would naturally spend most of their day crawling, squatting, climbing, walking, and running while exploring the world around them and any preschool will increase the amount of sitting children do, which means less time moving. Preschool starts "teaching" children that sitting still is "good", and they learn the opposite (exploring and being active) is "bad". Going to preschool almost always means your toddler will be wearing shoes for a significant part of the day and this starts to weaken and deform their perfect feet.
The key to keeping your preschooler healthy is to allow them to be as active as they can be before and after preschool and make sure they understand it is good and natural to be very active. Make it a point to get outside and explore your yard/neighborhood/park with your preschooler - pick up worms, squat down to watch ants, climb trees (if they're old/strong enough), hop up and down off the curb, and play chase or tag. And try to do as much of this as possible barefoot.
Elementary school:
By the time most children get to elementary school they have already learned that sitting still is good and being active is bad. Reminding and showing children that yes there are times when sitting still is good and helpful, but at other times being active is also good and helpful.
Children of elementary school age are old enough to be understand the 8 laws of physical health and how the more we move the healthier we become. Children of this age should be encouraged to participate in many different sports and activities (formal organized sports and informal play), avoid specialization, and get at least 1 hour of exercise daily.
Because of the amount of sitting in elementary school, encouraging your children's school to become an Active School and participate in Brain Breaks, Energizers, and Instant Recess. GoNoodle is a fun resource schools around the country use.
Because of the amount of sitting in elementary school, encouraging your children's school to become an Active School and participate in Brain Breaks, Energizers, and Instant Recess. GoNoodle is a fun resource schools around the country use.
Middle school:
In middle school, heavy backpacks become a big issue for most kids and they start causing negative effects on posture and health. It's been found the average 6th grader carries a backpack that weighs 18.4 pounds and some carrying backpacks as heavy as 30 pounds. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that kids backpacks are no more than 10-20% of their weight. One third of students studied suffered from back pain. Heavy backpacks cause kids to flex (round) their thoracic spine, round their shoulders forward, and jut their head forward to offset the weight of the backpack. This posture immediately decreases lung volume and breathing efficiency and has been shown to change mindset and emotional state. Carrying heavy backpacks regularly will start causing children's postures to stay in this position which can lead to headaches, neck pain, shoulder pain, and back pain.
We should do whatever we can to decrease the weight of students backpacks.
We should do whatever we can to decrease the weight of students backpacks.
Middle school age is when most kids get cell phones, the average kid checks their cell phone over 100 times a day, spends 5 hours on their phone daily, and over 50% consider themselves addicted to their cell phone. The two major problems with cell phone use is how it promotes inactivity and promotes bad posture. 5 hours on a cell phone is 5 hours not spent moving and getting physical activity. Almost everyone, while using a cell phone, is rounding their upper back and shoulders forward and their head is forward and down. This posture and it's associated symptoms has been coined Text Neck. The less time middle school age kids spend on their cellphone the better.
Middle school is the age many kids quit playing organized sports (70% quit by age 13) and many of the kids who continue to play focus on one sport instead of doing multiple sports. Both these trends have negative affects on children's health and posture. Less than 30% of middle school age children get the recommended 1 hour of physical activity daily.
Encouraging middle school students to stay active with recreational sports and encouraging them to start to engage in regular exercise that they enjoy can be very beneficial. Kids may not want to play competitive basketball or soccer any more but might enjoy joining a ultimate frisbee or dodgeball team or picking up a sport like rock climbing or obstacle course racing.
Middle school aged kids will also benefit from doing a daily menu to restore/maintain good posture and may have fun doing group workouts like this:
Encouraging middle school students to stay active with recreational sports and encouraging them to start to engage in regular exercise that they enjoy can be very beneficial. Kids may not want to play competitive basketball or soccer any more but might enjoy joining a ultimate frisbee or dodgeball team or picking up a sport like rock climbing or obstacle course racing.
Middle school aged kids will also benefit from doing a daily menu to restore/maintain good posture and may have fun doing group workouts like this:
The more time kids spend active with play or sports the better.
High school:
High school students are facing the same challenges that middle school students face (heavy backpacks, insufficient physical activity, excessive cell phone use) and probably more time spend studying. Time spend studying is time that is spend inactive and most likely sitting and slouched over a book, computer, or paper. Many high school students have quit organized sports and don't "play" anymore, so finding ways to get them active is key to their health. Lifetime sports or activities (golf, tennis, running, hiking, swimming, skiing, dancing) might be a good way or working out for fitness or even looks can work to get teens active. The key is again finding ways to put down the cellphone and get outside and get active. High school students will greatly benefit from a menu of exercises specific to their imbalances and activities to improve/maintain their posture and function.
College/graduate school:
College means more time studying, hanging out with friends, (and probably partying) and probably less time exercising and being active. Most college and grad students no longer participate in organized sports, so getting involved in regular exercise is very important. This might be the time to try something new like yoga, pilates, dance, crew, CrossFit, or a fitness bootcamp. Finding something that you enjoy and can regularly do is important.
In the photo above, the woman with the red scarf is showing good spinal alignment while everyone else is showing thoracic flexion, rounded shoulders, and forward head posture. Forward flexion of the upper back and head will lead to headaches, shoulder and neck tension, and poor concentration and focus. There is an easy fix, doing an overhead extension every 15 minutes while sitting will help a lot.
In the photo above, the man is doing a Sitting Overhead Extension which will extend the thoracic spine, pull the shoulders back, and relief stress and strain in the upper back and neck muscles and improve circulation and breathing. If you look up at your hands as you hold the stretch for 30 to 60 seconds it is even better.
Doing a regular menu of exercises including doing a Supine Groin Stretch or the Tower several times a week can really help undo the bad posture habits that come from reading, computers, cellphones, and studying.
Doing a regular menu of exercises including doing a Supine Groin Stretch or the Tower several times a week can really help undo the bad posture habits that come from reading, computers, cellphones, and studying.
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