CHAPTER 5:- CHILDREN AND WOMEN IN SPORTS

MOTOR DEVELOPMENT 

• It refers to the development of child bones, muscles, ability to move around and manipulate his or her environment
• Motor development is the development of movements and various motor abilities from birth Till death. Itis a progressive change in movement throughout the life cycle.
• There are three stages of motor development in children - infancy, early childhood & later childhood.

TYPES OF MOTOR DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN 

Motor development in children are divided into two types 

A) Gross motor development  

It involves development of large or big muscles of our body  this big muscles help us to stand, sit, run, climb etc

B) Fine motor development 

• It involves development of small muscles of our body specially the muscles of fingers wrist and hands.
• These muscles help us to perform work or skills perfectly and accurately such as catching, throwing, gripping, writing balancing, dancing, climbing, etc.

FACTORS AFFECTING MOTOR DEVELOPMENT 
1. Biological factors ( genetic or heridity factors)
The genes that we get from our parents are responsible for motor development.
The percentage of fast twitch muscle fibres and slow twitch muscle fibres depends upon biological factors
These factors affect the rate and ability of motor development.

2. Environmental factors
Clean, safe and natural environment is healthy and good for motor development activities.

3. Nutritional factors
Nutritious food promotes good motor development.
Children become stronger and healthy with good diet that improves motor development.

4. Physical activities
Performing regular physical activities or exercise, enhances motor development at faster rate in children.

5. Body weight
Obesity and overweight have negative effect on motor development.
Obese and overweight children have less motor development whereas healthy child has more skill perfection or good motor development.

6. Postural deformity
Postural deformities also have negative effects on motor development.
It reduces perfection and accuracy in motor skills whereas a healthy person gains faster motor development.

EXERCISE GUIDELINES AT DIFFERENT  STAGES OF GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT (Stages Of Motor Development in Children)

Following are the stages of Motor Development in Children.

Infants ( Up to 3 years )

• Parents should provide healthy diet and playful environment for gross motor development.
• They should regularly check the growth and development of their child.
• They should consult doctors for vaccination and health of the child.
• The activities of infants are crawling, sitting, standing, walking, rolling, bending etc.
• Infants should take proper rest and sufficient sleep.

Early Childhood ( 3 to 8 Years)

• In this stage, Children should be given healthy & Playful area, balanced diet and recreational activities.
• Special care should be given to develop hygienic habits and moral values in them.
• They should perform gross motor development activities such as running, jumping, throwing, climbing etc.
• Recreational activities with ball, rope skipping, fun games and rhythmic exercises are beneficial for them.

Later Childhood ( 9 to 13 age group)

• During this both gross and fine motor activities can be performed.
• Activities such as gymnastics, yogasanas, swimming, athletics etc are good sports activities for this age group.
• Ball games like football volleyball, basketball, handball are also beneficial.
• Racket games like badminton & table tennis also helps to develop fine Motor skills.
• Calisthenics can also be beneficial to develop physical fitness along with teamwork.

WEIGHT TRAINING

• These are exercises  that are design to strengthen specific muscles by causing them to overcome fixed resistance usually in the form of barble and dumbbell.
• Weight training is considered as one of the old and best method  to develop strength.
• Weight Training depends upon the principle of overloading in which resistance is gradually increased depending on the muscular ability of an individual.
• Weight training should always be performed under the supervision of experts or coach to bring desired strength and shape of body and to reduce the chances of injuries.
• One must perform proper warming up before beginning weight training exercises.

ADVANTAGES OF WEIGHT TRAINING

1. Increases strength
It develops and increases tremendous amount of strength in an individual.
It helps to develop specific component of strength that is Maximum strength, explosive strength and strength endurance.
It is considered as best name to develop strength.
2. Controls body weight 
Weight training helps to remove extra body fat and increases bone density of an individual, this ultimately helps in controlling weight.
3. Rehabilitation
Weight training exercises are good for rehabilitation process and helps individual to recover from injuries.
4. Improves Postures:-
Weight training helps to improve posture by improving appetite and diet of an individual.
5. Improves performance
Weight training program is beneficial for improving the performance of an athlete it is one of the most significant component of conditioning program for runners, jumpers, weightlifters, body builders, throwers etc

DISADVANTAGE OF WEIGHT TRAINING

1. Expensive equipments
 weight training needs a specific type of tools, machines and equipments which are expensive and difficult to manage at home.

2. Injuries are common
Weight training open causes injuries like cramps, strain, sprain etc.
If you perform weight training exercise without any supervision of an expert or coach the risk of injuries are more.

3. Reduces flexibility
Weight training exercises reduce the level of flexibility in an individual.

4. Not recommended for cardiac patient
Weight training exercises are not recommended to cardiac patients has weight training exercises increases blood pressure.

5. Needs good coach and expert
A good coach for expert is must for weight training exercise program.
An untrained coach may cause overtraining or heavy training which might hinder the growth of children.

MEANING OF POSTURE

• Posture is the position in which you hold your body and limbs when standing, sitting or lying down.
• Posture is the body position (static or dynamic) where the body experiences minimum stress to muscles.
• It is the specific position of person while sitting, standing, walking, running etc.

MEANING AND CONCEPT OF GOOD OR CORRECT POSTURE

• Good or correct posture is the position of the body held with minimum stress to the muscles and bones.
• Good posture means balancing of body in an accurate manner while sitting, standing, walking, running or during any other action performed by the body.
• You have a good posture when your body position creates least amount of stress on supportive muscles and ligaments, when you perform any weight training activity.
• The foremost impression of an individual is gathered from how he stands, sits and walks. 
• In a proper posture, the whole body weight falls on both feet without any effort and the entire body appears to be in a vertical line. 
• In this position all the limbs of body perform their functions efficiently. 
• Posture is dynamic and changes according to the activity.

ADVANTAGES OF GOOD OR CORRECT POSTURES

1. Good physical appearance

• The first image of personality comes through good posture.
• A good posture makes an individual look smart, good looking, charming and attractive.
• Good posture gives more confident, vigorous, competent and beautiful youthful appearance.

2. Better skill perfection

• Sports and games involve various types of movements.
• Good posture helps to improve perfection and accuracy in skills.
• Good posture helps to attain graceful as well as efficient moments to achieve apex performance in sports.

3. Prevents respiratory disorders

• Good posture helps to open air face and improves breathing.
• Proper breathing allows good flow of oxygen in to the organs, nervous system and various tissues of the body.

4. Better selection of players

• Correct posture of players helps the coaches and physical education teachers for better selection of players for various sports activities.
• It also helps in individual for selection in Defence Services.

5. Prevents disorders and diseases

• Correct postures helps to prevent postural deformities like kyphosis, scoliosis, knock knees etc.
• It also prevents health problems like lower back pain, neck strain, headaches, constipation, spinal related problems etc.

6. Good social status

• A good personality reflects positive social qualities such as self confidence, good behaviour etc.
• Good posture is an image of healthy and Happy lifestyle and improve social well being of an individual.

CAUSES OF BAD POSTURES

1. Accidents:-

Sometimes deformities can also occur due to accidents.

Accidents may cause severe injuries to the body.

These injuries may lead to poor posture or postural deformities.

2. Lack of Nutritional diet or Malnutrition:-

If we don't take proper diet, the bones and muscles become weak. Thus we get fatigue. Now if a person performs activities under fatigue condition, he or she may suffer from bad posture.

3. Wrong postural habits:-

The faulty position or wrong postural habits while sitting, standing, walking etc leads to postural deformities or bad posture.

4. By birth:-

Poor or bad posture maybe by birth also . Kyphosis, flat foot and dislocation of hip joints are some common postural deformities that occur by birth.

5. Fashion:-

Modern fashion creates hindrance in the development and smooth functioning of the body. 

Due to fashion children cannot walk, stand and sit properly.

Tight fitting clothes and high heels causes severe bad posture.

6. Obesity and overweight:-

Obesity enhances the chances of extra effort on the muscles and skeletal system of the body.

If a person is overweight, it puts extra weight and pressure on joints, bones and muscles of the body.

This can lead to deformity or bad posture in the body such as flat foot, bow legs, knock knees etc.

COMMON POSTURAL DEFORMITIES

Deformities related with spine.
A) Kyphosis    B) Lordosis  C) Scoliosis

A) KYPHOSIS

• This postural deformity of spine is also called round upper back or hunchback.
• It is an abnormal curvature of spine at front.
• It causes hump at back of the body. Thus , shoulders and neck comes forward.
• This deformity causes convexity of thoracic cage. Thus, body weight is shifted forward
• This deformity causes severe pain and discomfort, breathing and digestion difficulties, cardio muscular irregularity.

Causes of kyphosis

Malnutrition, illness, insufficient exercise, carrying heavy loads on shoulders, unsuitable furniture, weak muscles, improper habits of sitting, walking, standing etc.

Remedies for corrective measures for kyphosis

1. Leaning back on a chair and taking the shoulder backward can help to stretch the chest muscles
2. One should always keep a pillow under your back while sleeping
3. Bend your head backward in standing position
4. Perform yogasan like dhanurasan, bhujangasan and chakrasan regularly.

B) LORDOSIS

• It is a condition where there is increase in curvature of spine.
• It is an increased forward curve in the lumbar region of spine beyond its normal level.
• In this deformity the body weight is shifted backward does lot of pressure is on heels.
• It also causes lower back pain.

Causes of lordosis

Imbalance diet, in proper development of muscles, weeks final muscles, obesity or overweight, sedentary Lifestyle etc

Corrective measures or remedies for lordosis

1. Perform paschimottanasana and Al Hassan regularly
2. Perform forward bending exercise regularly
3. Perform alternate toe touch exercise regularly
4. Perform abdominal crunch exercise regularly