Hygienic foundation for a gender-differentiated management of physical education of primary schoolchildren

Abstract

Introduction. An urgent task of school hygiene is to increase the developmental, preventive and health-improving effectiveness of physical education (PhE), taking into account the peculiarities of the lifestyle and body development of children of different genders. Materials and methods. Non-randomized controlled studies were performed in a natural hygienic experiment with the participation of 265 children with a traditional management (TM), partially (GDM-1) and completely (GDM-2) gender-differentiated PhE management. Anthropometric and functional indicators were measured, data on physical fitness and the psycho-emotional state of children were analyzed. Results. The values of vital capacity of lungs, Shtange’s test and strength of hands’ muscles increased during the school year by 24.8% (p<0.001), 33.6% (p<0.001) and 48.8% (p<0.001), respectively, in groups PM-1 and GDM-2. There was a tendency to decrease in the proportion of boys with excess body weight by 8.9% (p>0.05), the static-kinetic stability increased up by 1.3 times (p<0.001) with GDM-2. The greatest increase in static balance occurred in boys with TM-1 up to 1.7 times (p<0.001), and in girls with GDM-2 up to 1.65 times (p<0.001). The results of the tests of the VFSK TRP are higher with GDM-2 than with TM in “30 m run” up by 1.92 times, “Long jump from a place with a push with two legs” up by 2.38 times, “Pulling up from a hang on a high bar” up to 5.18 times, “Pulling up from a hang lying on a low bar” up to 3.29 times. The proportion of boys with a comfortable psycho-emotional state decreased with TM and GDM-1 and unchanged with GDM-2. Limitations. The criteria for including children in the study were age 7-10 years, I-II health groups, basic and preparatory medical groups for PhE. Conclusion. The gender-differentiated approach increases the hygienic effectiveness of the PhE by ensuring that the management of PhE lessons corresponds to the peculiarities of the functional state of the body, physical development and physical fitness of children.