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Aim The specific questions in the theoretic part were: What is contained in the terms "balance and balance skill" and how can this skill be measured? The specific questions in the empirical part were: How does balance skill in different age categories of children correlate with biological and physiological parameters such as age, gender, body height, weight and level of physical activity? Methods Literature search based on books and scientific papers related to the questions posed above. Selection was made at libraries and on–line through "Pubmed". Specific search words were used. Data collected during the SIH-project, including balance tests of approximately 1700 children 10-, 13- and 16 years old, were used for the empirical part of the project. Results The literature search concluded that there is little consensus about terms such as "balance" and "balance skill". Several scientific disciplines have "their own" definition of these terms depending on whether the interpretation is purely mechanical/biomechanical, neurophysiological or from a more behaviouristic point of view. There are a number of clinical/functional as well as more "lab based" test procedures of balance function that are considered to be reliable. The empirical study showed that balance skill varies in school children 10-, 13- and 16 years of age such that the older children display better balance skills that the younger ones. There was no effect of gender on balance skill. Overweight and obese children display lower balance skill than those of normal body weight. Body height appears to have little influence on balance skill. Children with high level of physical activity seem to display better balance skills than more inactive ones. Conclusion Definitions of terms used in balance related research have not been standardized and are therefore both difficult to interpret and to implement. Balance skill in children correlates with age, body weight and level of physical activity. Syfte och frågeställningar De specifika frågeställningarna i den teoretiska delen löd: Vad innefattas i begreppen balans och balansförmåga och hur kan dessa förmågor mätas? De specifika frågeställningarna i den empiriska delen löd: Hur är balansförmågan hos barn relaterad till ålder och kön, längd och kroppsvikt samt till graden av fysisk aktivitet? Metod Inledningsvis genomfördes en systematisk litteraturgenomgång av böcker och vetenskapliga artiklar med anknytningar till frågeställningarna. Urval av litteratur gjordes på bibliotek och via "Pubmed" där vissa specifika sökord användes. Till den empiriska delen användes data insamlade under SIH-projektet, där bland annat balanstester genomfördes på ca 1700 barn i åldrarna 10-, 13- och 16 år. Data analyserades i SPSS 11.0. Skillnader i balansförmåga mellan kön, ålderskategorier och andra relevanta variabler beräknades med chi2-test, där signifikansnivån sattes till p |
