Back pain in children from computer sitting

Children should exercise more and spend less time in front of the computer

Back pain pervades all ages. Children are already affected by the number one widespread disease, as reported by the magazine "Geo Wissen Gesundheit". According to this, 40 percent of children between the ages of 11 and 14 suffer from the annoying complaints. Poor posture and tension due to long sitting in front of the screen as well as lack of movement are usually the cause of the complaints.

Preventing back pain with exercise The posture of children while sitting in front of the computer can permanently damage the spine. A position in which the children see on the keyboard or screen with their heads bowed is particularly unfavorable. If you play exciting PC games, you should often pull your shoulders up under stress, which can lead to tension. As a result, six percent of six to eight year olds and even 40 percent of eleven to 14 year olds have back pain. "The children's fitness has clearly deteriorated, many suffer from poor posture and back pain because their core muscles are too weak," explains sports scientist Prof. Alexander Woll from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology to the magazine. He speaks of a "movement paradox": At no time were so many children a member of sports clubs, but physical activity declined by around 40 percent between the ages of four and 17.

Today, children are not as powerful as before in terms of strength, endurance, flexibility and coordination. "Active physical exertion, such as walking to daycare or school or riding a bike, has been reduced considerably," Woll continues. He advises one hour of exercise per school day to improve the physical fitness of schoolchildren. This would also reduce the tendency to aggression in the school yard. And: "Exercise affects cognitive performance and increases the ability to concentrate," added the sports scientist.

Most children spend more than an hour in front of the screen every day. According to the DKV health insurance report "How healthy does Germany live?", Most children exceed the recommended maximum duration of media use. According to this, three quarters of children watch TV for longer than an hour a day, play computers or surf the Internet. At the presentation of the report in Berlin at the end of January, the DKV CEO Clemens Muth reported that 72 percent of the children even had their own TV in the children's room and 50 percent had Internet access. Children practically grew up sitting and imitated their parents' unhealthy lifestyle. (ag)

> Image: Daniel Stricker / pixelio.de

Author and source information