Namyangju City Successfully Completes 'Early Screening Project for Scoliosis in Elementary School Students'

Namyangju City completed the "Early Screening Project for Scoliosis in 5th Grade Elementary School Students" targeting 5th-grade children in local elementary schools since May. The photo shows a teacher guiding children through a correct posture exercise program.

Namyangju City, Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Joo Gwang-deok) announced on the 28th that it has successfully completed the "Early Scoliosis Screening Project for 5th Grade Elementary School Students" conducted since May this year targeting 5th graders in local elementary schools.

This project was established to help children’s proper physical growth through early scoliosis screening, as the risk of scoliosis increased due to reduced physical activity caused by COVID-19 and early growth development.

Last year, a pilot operation was conducted on 275 5th graders from two elementary schools in the Namyangju Pungyang Public Health Center area, discovering 10 suspected cases (prevalence rate of 3.6%) early.

The children participated in a scoliosis prevention exercise program operated by the public health center, showing significant improvement in scoliosis severity. Encouraged by the strong response from parents, the project was expanded to all areas of Namyangju City this year.

This project was entrusted to the Scoliosis Research Institute affiliated with Korea University and was conducted by receiving applications from local elementary schools in cooperation with the Guri Namyangju Office of Education.

Through this project, a total of 3,220 children from 37 schools received early scoliosis screening, and 132 children diagnosed as suspected cases were provided with a systematic follow-up program emphasizing the importance of correct posture and physical activity, including individual treatment consultations and preventive education.

Additionally, schools independently established after-school "Correct Posture Exercise Programs" for suspected children, and the public health center operated various exercise programs helpful for preventing scoliosis, encouraging high interest and participation from parents.

Lee Jeong-mi, Director of Namyangju Pungyang Public Health Center, stated, “Next year, we will continuously promote the importance of scoliosis prevention to schools and parents to enable more students to participate and will spare no support.”