Under-exercised Children in Corona Risks of Restarting School 20:50 August 27

There is concern that children may lack physical activity due to temporary suspension of school due to the new coronavirus and refraining from going out, but it was found that there were cases of injuries to children who suddenly performed intense exercise after school restarted. Experts point out that there are many children who are at risk of injury because they have moved away from full-scale exercise, and point out the need for measures at school sites.

Due to the influence of the new coronavirus, elementary and junior high schools and high schools nationwide have been temporarily closed for several months since March this year, and while club activities are also suspended, it is feared that children will lack exercise and their physical strength will decline. I will.

Of these, Iwatsuki Junior High School in Saitama City has been temporarily closed for about 3 months, and at last, a spring medical examination was finally carried out, which was much later than usual, but in addition to physical problems such as being apt to get tired, It means that the number of students who had hardened muscles and weakened muscles was clearly increasing.

After restarting at this school, some students were injured because they failed to land the jump during the physical education class, so the student who received the medical examination ``liked to fall on the school stairs at the end of the school holiday''. He said, "I felt that physical education classes were more difficult than before."

Sanae Yokota, an instructor, said, “I feel the lack of exercise among the children who were staying home. They fall during physical education classes and things that have never happened before.”

Dr. Nobuhiro Hayashi, an honorary member of the Japanese Society of Clinical Orthopedics and in charge of health checkups, said, “The longer the self-restraint period, the lower the motor function continues, so it is easy to get injured even with light exercise.” However, since there are many children who are at risk of injury because they have moved away from full-scale exercise, they point out the need for measures at school sites.

Most of them are "flesh" and "nenza"

Children who are injured by sudden physical exercise are now visiting the osteopathic clinic in Koto-ku, Tokyo.

Many of the injuries were “fleshes” and “nenzas”, and a male student in the third year of junior high school who had muscles on the right thigh was visiting us on that day as well.

This student, who belongs to the track and field club, had a muscle loss during his dash practice in June when club activities resumed. The student said, "I'm too impatient to practice because I don't think I can record at the competition without practice now."

Yoshio Shinoda, director of the osteopathic clinic, said, “I'm injured because I continue to refrain from doing things and suddenly exercise while the contractility of the muscles and the softness of the joints I used during club activities are lost.” "There are surprisingly many children who have hurt themselves due to self-restraint. I wonder if the number of children who are injured due to flesh, sprains, bone fractures, etc. is increasing nationwide."

Anomalies seen from the questionnaire

What kind of changes are taking place in the children's bodies due to self-restraint life? The Japan Society of Clinical Orthopedics, which is made up of doctors who practice orthopedics all over the country, conducted a questionnaire survey for the first time from the end of last month to the middle of this month, targeting 817 elementary, middle and high school students including those who visited medical institutions. It was

According to that,
▼35.3% of elementary school students,
▼44.1% of junior
high school students , ▼55.1% of high school students answered that they lost their physical strength .

Moreover,
▼36.9% of elementary school students,
▼40.7% of junior high school students, and
▼34.9% of high school students answered that they "increased weight" .

All of these tendencies were stronger for the children who answered that they did not exercise during the self-restraint period.

In addition, when asked if "I had some pain in my body after the period of self-restraint,"
▼ elementary school students
answered "foot/ankles", ▼ junior high and high school students answered "neck/waist" in addition to "foot/ankles" The Japanese Society of Clinical Orthopedic Surgery said that
▽Elementary school students had reduced flexibility due to self-restraint,
▽Middle and high school students had longer time to play smartphones and games. It is analyzed that there is such a background.

Some schools have begun to take “injury measures”

It is said that the number of cases where children are injured is increasing due to sudden physical activity in the physical education class after reopening at Municipal Third Elementary School in Chofu City, Tokyo. Therefore, in addition to the usual preparatory gymnastics, the school has newly introduced "auxiliary exercise".

For example, before doing a jump box, we take steps such as taking off, putting on a hand, and landing separately, so that the body feels and then jumps.

Dr. Taiki Kojima said, “I felt that the children's movements became heavy after the school was restarted, and I needed to “adjust the exercise to the physical condition of the child.” Do not take the current physical condition of the child as a starting point. When I teach, I try to help the children to see which muscles they are working with and not their physical activity, rather than sudden physical exertion.” It was.

Expert “Insufficient exercise for 1 month, body recovery for 3 months”

Regarding abnormalities in children's bodies, Professor Emeritus Yoshiteru Mutoh of the University of Tokyo, which specializes in sports medicine, said, ``In recent years, children have tended to lack exercise, and with the spread of new coronavirus infections, it has progressed further. With one of the major injuries, there are hundreds of children in the reserve army who are injured because the underlying physical strength is low. Isn't it appropriate?"

On that basis, "It is said that it takes about 3 months for the body to recover if the lack of exercise continues for 1 month. Considering that there are many injured armed forces in the field of school education, sudden physical exercise is It is necessary to provide more step-by-step guidance, such as not doing it."