Influence of flexibility and gender on the posture of school children

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether flexibility and gender influence students' posture. METHOD: Evaluation of 60 female and male students, aged 5 to 14 years, divided into two groups: normal flexibility (n=21) and reduced flexibility (n=39). Flexibility and posture were assessed by photogrammetry and by the elevation of the lower limbs in extension, considering the leg angle and the postural evaluation. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) were used for data analysis. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to assess the joint influence of flexibility and gender on the posture-dependent variables. After verifying an interactive effect between the variables of gender and flexibility, multiple comparisons using the t test were applied. RESULTS: Flexibility influenced the symmetry angle of the knee (p<0.05) and anteroposterior body tilt (p<0.05). Gender did not influence postural angles (p>0.05). There was an interactive effect between the variables of gender and flexibility on the knee symmetry angle (p<0.02). Male students with reduced flexibility had greater asymmetry of the knee when compared to the other subgroups. CONCLUSION: Posture was influenced by an isolated effect of the variable of flexibility and by an interactive effect between gender and flexibility.