Abstract

Background: Sagittal spinal alignment is an important indicator of musculoskeletal health during childhood. Although sports gymnastics has been suggested as a potentially beneficial form of physical activity for postural development, evidence from short-term school-based interventions remains limited. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the effects of an additional sports gymnastics training program on sagittal spinal alignment in fifth-grade primary school students. Methods: A total of 139 fifth-grade students (11.0 ± 0.5 years) participated in this quasi-experimental longitudinal study and were allocated to an experimental group (n = 74) and a control group (n = 65). The intervention lasted six weeks and consisted of one additional sports gymnastics session per week (60 min) in addition to regular physical education classes. Sagittal spinal alignment was assessed using the Spinal Mouse device by measuring thoracic kyphosis and lumbar lordosis. Baseline-adjusted between-group differences were evaluated using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Results: Small descriptive reductions in thoracic kyphosis and lumbar lordosis were observed in the experimental group; however, these within-group changes did not reach statistical significance. After adjustment for baseline values, ANCOVA demonstrated a statistically significant between-group difference for thoracic kyphosis (F = 5.05, p = 0.026, partial η2 = 0.038). Nevertheless, because the adjusted mean value was lower in the control group than in the experimental group, this finding should be interpreted with caution. No significant between-group difference was observed for lumbar lordosis (F = 2.24, p = 0.137, partial η2 = 0.017). An increase in the proportion of participants classified as having physiological sagittal spinal alignment was observed in both groups, with a descriptively greater increase in the experimental group (14.9% to 45.9%) than in the control group (7.7% to 35.4%). Conclusions: The findings provide preliminary evidence that a short-term additional sports gymnastics program may be associated with changes in sagittal spinal alignment among school-aged children. However, because of the quasi-experimental design, the low intervention dose, and the short duration of the program, the results should be considered exploratory. Further randomized controlled studies with longer intervention periods are needed to clarify the effects of sports gymnastics on sagittal spinal alignment in children.

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