Author(s): YANG, Y., Institution: CAPITAL UNIVERSITY OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORTS, Country: CHINA, Abstract-ID: 1071

INTRODUCTION:
Postural deviations among school-aged children are increasing, while physical-health problems such as obesity and insufficient muscle mass are becoming more prevalent. Educational reform in physical education (PE) calls for the development of specialized curricula; if prevention of postural abnormalities and improvement of physical fitness can be mutually reinforcing, the health-promoting value of primary and secondary school PE could be substantially enhanced. This study aimed to examine associations between postural abnormalities and body fat and muscle mass distribution in school-aged children to inform PE curriculum design and guide future teaching reform.

METHODS:
A total of 158 children aged 6–14 (87 males: 8.93±1.96 years; 71 females: 8.96±1.85 years) were recruited from Capital University of Physical Education and Sports. Postural assessments followed the national standard "Test Indicators and Methods for Body Posture of Children and Adolescents" (TY/T 501-2022), supplemented by the Foot Posture Index-6 (FPI-6). Body composition was measured using bioelectrical impedance analysis (InBody-260). Metrics included fat mass (BFM), fat-free mass (FFM), skeletal muscle mass (SMM), percent body fat (PBF), and waist-hip ratio (WHR) across various body segments. Data were analyzed via SPSS 18.0 using K-S tests, independent-samples T-tests, Chi-square tests, and Pearson correlation analysis (P<0.05).
RESULTS:
Postural deviations were prevalent in 67.82% of boys and 87.32% of girls. The most common issues were flatfoot (35.6%) and anterior pelvic tilt (24.1%) in boys, and flatfoot (32.4%) and shoulder height asymmetry (29.6%) in girls. Significant sex differences were found in bilateral leg imbalance, foot posture, and shoulder height asymmetry (P<0.05). In boys, scoliosis correlated with SMM, FFM, and trunk FFM (P<0.05); forward head posture and increased thoracic kyphosis significantly correlated with BFM across all segments and WHR (P<0.01). In girls, anterior pelvic tilt showed strong correlations with SMM and FFM across multiple segments (P<0.05). Flatfoot was associated with WHR in boys and trunk fat mass in girls.
CONCLUSION:
Postural deviations are common among school-aged children and show sex-specific patterns. Foot posture abnormalities had the highest prevalence and were more frequent in boys than girls, but the associated body-composition correlates differed by sex. Postural deviations of the head, neck and extremities (e.g., forward head posture, increased thoracic kyphosis, shoulder asymmetry, flatfoot) were more often associated with adiposity-related indices, whereas trunk and spinal deviations (e.g., scoliosis, anterior pelvic tilt) were more often associated with muscle-mass–related indices. For future PE curriculum design, preventive programs addressing head, neck and limb posture are recommended to be combined with fat-reduction interventions, while preventive programs for spinal and trunk posture should be combined with muscle-building interventions.