When did the first school desk appear in Belarus? History of the school desk

The school years that each of us went through do not disappear on their own from our memory. They, as a monument to acquired primary knowledge, as a reminder of the stages of growing up, always live with us, with many of us, and every now and then they remind us of themselves by revealing vivid pictures from childhood in our memories.

I remember very well my first class, my first class, my first teacher and my first acquaintance with the classroom in which I spent the first three years of my studies. The first thing that caught my attention was a board on the wall with folding halves, one of which was lined with squares, and the second with an oblique ruler, similar to the notebooks in which I learned to write.




The second thing I saw and remembered was a lot of posters with letters, numbers, some illustrations, and all this was as unfamiliar to me as it was interesting. I still had to learn and understand all this.






Well, the third and most powerful impression was the desks. They were strange at first glance, but partly familiar to me from pictures from children's magazines and photographs from the gymnasium where Lenin studied. As it turned out quite recently, these were desks invented in 1870 by the Russian hygienist Fyodor Fedorovich Erisman for the most beneficial effect on the health of children of long-term writing, reading and drawing.

This desk was originally made as a single-seater, but at the end of the 19th century, the exiled St. Petersburg student Pyotr Feoktistovich Korotkov improved Erisman’s desk, making it a double-seater, in which form it appeared before me.
The design of these desks is difficult to confuse with any others: an inclined tabletop, the legs of which were connected to the legs of the bench, and created a single structure. The tabletop itself had recesses for handles, as well as a lifting front part of the table so that the student could easily get up and sit down. On the side there was a hook for backpacks and briefcases. The desks varied in size and in the lower grades they were smaller.

Recently, many new designs of school desks have appeared, new technologies for its manufacture, with new hygienic requirements, modern forms and materials, but Erisman desks are those classics of school furniture that will remain in the memory for a long time, and somewhere in classrooms.

Remember these? Whose children go to school now? How are things going with the desks? What are they sitting on? Have you forgotten Uncle Erisman?

School will always be associated for us not only with the first teacher, first friends and successes or failures, but also with those attributes without which we cannot imagine a student today. A desk, a backpack, a school board - each of these items has its own interesting history. In this article we will talk about them and remember those school supplies that modern schoolchildren have already forgotten about.

School desk

Satchel

Blackboard

Over the past 200 years, some educational supplies have replaced others. Notebooks and pens were changed. The problems with blots that plagued students just 100 years ago have disappeared forever. Below in the selection of photos are those items that were absolutely necessary for us, our grandfathers or great-grandmothers for studying. Modern schoolchildren now have no idea about the purpose of many of them.

Classic desk. The desks were not the same. Smaller ones at the board, closer ones at the back.

My mother worked at school for about 30 years, and lately she constantly regretted that these desks were removed.

When they installed desks with the ability to adjust the tilt (with an iron handle), chairs separately, nothing else, but when the junior high school students were moved to tables, my mother’s indignation knew no bounds. And that’s right - they all wrote with their noses.

And at the old desks, like in the picture, you don’t get very twisted.

It is interesting that these desks were available even in high school, because even by the age of 17 the body was not yet fully formed (even in evening schools - remember the film “Spring on Zarechnaya Street”).

A little history

The school desk was developed not by anyone, but by Erisman himself, the famous Russian hygienist of the nineteenth century, whose name is given to several institutes. Such desks with an inclined work surface, a backrest and a footrest help maintain correct posture. And the eyes strain less. In his work “The Influence of Schools on the Origin of Myopia” (1870), he pointed out the increase in the number of myopic children and the increasing degree of myopia among students as they neared graduation. Having revealed the causes of this phenomenon, F. F. Erisman developed measures to prevent myopia and hygienic requirements for lighting in classrooms. It was he who proposed the design of the desk, which later received the name “Erisman’s desk,” and determined the basic requirements for the design of the desk and its dimensions. F. F. Erisman summarized the results of these studies in the project of the so-called model classroom. She looked something like this:

It is well known to the older generation; it has some inconveniences, but the main thing is that it does not spoil the child’s posture. Then new desks came, but the main thing remained - the angle of inclination of the tabletop.

German school desk.

Then time passed... These desks were gone... Osteochondrosis and myopia became occupational diseases among schoolchildren.

Fortunately, times sometimes change. According to the new SANPIN, the tabletop of a school desk must have from 12° to 15° tilt Sitting behind her, our children simply technically will not be able to “hunch over.” This is already anatomically laid down and invented a century ago.

One of the companies has already stepped up. They make desks from the cheapest wood - pine, similar to the old Soviet ones.

And they set the price - 24,000 rubles! ( link).

This is not strong expensive oak, but cheap soft pine. If you make such a desk yourself from purchased material at OBI, it will cost 1000 rubles. (furniture panels, pine window sills, steps, aspen for a bathhouse.)

The height of the bench seat should correspond to the length of the shin from the popliteal fossa to the sole plus 2 cm for the thickness of the heel. When seated correctly, the leg at the knee joint should be bent at a right angle.

The depth of the seat should be such that most of the thigh (2/3-3/4) rests on the seat. The back of the desk is made of one or two bars, preferably two, which provide lumbosacral and subscapular support.

Differentiation - the vertical distance from the edge of the table to the plane of the seat - should be equal to the distance from the elbow (with the arm lowered and bent at the elbow joint) to the seat plus 2 cm. Normally, this is 1/7-1/8 of the height.

Bench distance - the horizontal distance between the back edge of the desk table and the front edge of the seat - reflects the relationship between the edge of the table and the edge of the bench. There are positive, zero, negative distances. The distance of the bench should be negative, i.e. the edge of the bench should extend under the edge of the table by 3-4 cm.

The main elements of the desk and their dimensions: A - horizontal board of the desk cover; B, C - inclined board; B - fixed part; B - rising part; G - back of the bench; E - side racks; F - runners-bars; CG - center of gravity; TO is the fulcrum.

The optimal table length for different desk numbers ranges from 120 to 140 cm. The table cover of the desk should have a slope 15°.

With such an inclination, the axis of vision is perpendicular to the plane of the book, which creates good visibility with less strain on the organ of vision.

Guidelines for measures to prevent visual impairment in children of preschool age and during school years. Ministry of Health care. USSR, 1958.

By its design, a school desk should not only ensure the correct seating of children, but encourage it. This is only possible if its size matches the student’s height well. The main task when designing a desk is to ensure a fit that requires minimal muscle effort to maintain.

If the center of gravity of the body, located in front of the lower thoracic vertebrae, is located above the points of support of a sitting person, if at the same time part of the body’s gravity is transferred to an additional support (the back of the desk), then the position of the body is stable and muscle efforts are minimal. In such conditions it is easier to keep your head straight and your back muscles get less tired.

Therefore, in the presence of constant pedagogical control, children cannot develop the habit of reading and writing with a strong tilt of the body and head. To achieve this goal, the sizes of desks and their individual parts must correspond to the height of students.

Currently, desks are produced in 12 sizes, designed for children’s height groups from 110–119 to 170–179 cm.

The back edge of the desk cover should extend beyond the front edge of the desk seat by 4 cm (the so-called negative distance of the desk seat). (The distance from the back edge of the desk lid to the seat (vertical).) This feature of desks is important because it forces students to sit upright.

So, the height of the desk and its seat, differentiation and distance are the main elements of the educational desk, which must be in accordance with each other and the height of the students. In Fig. Below these relationships are shown for different numbers of school desks.

The size of standard desks is from No. VI to XI.

A - horizontal board of the desk lid; B-B - inclined board (B - fixed part, B - rising part); E - side racks; F - runners-bars; G - the back of the bench: in profile and height it corresponds to the lumbar curve of the spine. The student transfers part of the weight of the body to it when supporting. D - bench seat: the shape of the seat corresponds to the shape of the hip. This contributes to a more stable position for the student. CG - center of gravity; TO is the fulcrum.

If these dimensions are not observed (especially with a zero or positive distance) and the height of the desk does not correspond to the height of the student during classes, the position of the center of gravity of the body changes. This leads to unnecessary muscle effort and general fatigue.

In turn, this usually causes the eyes to move too close to the text and predisposes to the formation of an elongated eye shape, i.e., to axial secondary myopia. Correct seating of children in desks should be carried out annually in accordance with their growth. (According to A.F. Listov, the desk number can be determined if the number 5 is subtracted from the first two height numbers. For example, with a height of 163 cm, the desk number is 11, with a height of 135 cm, the desk number is 8, etc.)

Correct posture of the student when reading and writing.

The following rules for proper landing must be observed (Fig. above a and b):

1. sit up straight, tilt your head forward quite a bit;

2. lean your back on the back of the desk;

3. Keep your torso, head, and shoulders parallel to the edge of the desk, without tilting to the right or left. There should be a palm-width distance from the chest to the edge of the desk;

4. Place your feet on the floor or on a footrest, bending them at a right or slightly greater angle (100–110°).

It is very important that the lid of the study desks is located slightly inclined (12–15°). This tilt of the desk lid and slight tilt of the head make it possible to view individual parts of the text at the same distance, which is not possible without an additional tilt of the head and torso when reading a book placed on the table. Therefore, it is advisable that students use music stands or folding ones during homework (Fig. below):

The position of the notebook while writing is also of great importance. It depends on what the direction of the handwriting is. The old controversial issue of oblique or straight handwriting has not yet been resolved (see below about this). When writing obliquely, the notebook should lie on the music stand against the middle of the body and obliquely (at an angle of 30–40°) in relation to the edge of the desk or table. When writing obliquely, it is not very easy to maintain the correct position of the shoulders and torso (parallel to the edge of the table). The result is a tilt of the torso, resulting in lateral curvature of the spine. When writing straight, the notebook should lie against the body without any tilt in relation to the edge of the desk or table. When moving from one line to another, you need to move the notebook upward so that the distance from the eyes does not change. In the Soviet school, oblique writing with an inclination of 10–15° is generally accepted, which makes it possible to take advantage of both oblique and straight writing. It is necessary to teach children not only the correct posture, but also the correct position of books and notebooks during classes.

A school desk is the main equipment in the classroom; without a school desk and a blackboard, it is impossible to properly organize the school process. School desk– one of the wonderful school memories, an absolutely lively and individual participant in all school events, she is like a good school friend. But this is not only a subject of childhood and youth memories, but also a serious invention.

The correct school desk by Erisman was invented in 1870. Famous Russian hygienist Erisman F.F. first invented a single-seat school desk, and at the end of the 19th century, an exiled St. Petersburg student Korotkov P.F. improved Erisman's desk, making it double, for which he received a silver medal at an industrial exhibition and a diploma of invention. And the first analogue of such furniture in the form of a postovets appeared in the Renaissance, then it was transformed into desk or secretary, and later - to the school desk.

The correct arrangement of Erisman's school desk creates good conditions for the student to write, read, and draw.

1. The design of the desk allows the student to sit at it in the most comfortable position that does not interfere with the normal development of the child.

2. The desk does not have sharp corners or protruding parts of fasteners, so it will not cause damage to the child.

3. The desk has a simple and at the same time durable design, so it is not difficult for a child to use it, and for an adult to maintain it.

A student at a school desk does not disturb his neighbor; he can get up to answer a lesson without leaving his desk.

The desk is created according to the child’s proportions; at a school desk, a posture with a straight posture is the least tiring and contributes to the student’s greater performance, and is convenient for writing and reading.

The tilt of the desk lid allows you to see the text in a book or notebook at a right angle, which has a positive effect on the student’s vision. In addition, the design of the desk provides for the maximum correct distance from the student’s eyes to the text in a notebook or book of 30-40 cm.

In Tsarist Russia, a unique transforming desk was also invented, in which the height of the table and the angle of inclination of the tabletop changed. This school desk has helped many generations of schoolchildren maintain correct posture and good vision.

At the end of the sixties of the last century, desks in the form of tables with free-standing chairs were invented, but for some reason they pass by our memory.

And here classic school desk Erisman, in my opinion, should still be the main attribute of any school, especially elementary school.

Unfortunately, in my archive I didn’t find a single good image with a general view of a classroom with desks; I had to search on the Internet. My soul was touched by a photo of a Moscow school class, so reminiscent of our rural school: worn floors, high painted panels, desks in three rows, some with streaks of purple ink. When the bell rang and the teacher said: “The lesson is over!”, there was a friendly roar of desk lids being thrown back and then the tramp of students running out of the classroom into the corridor. What touched me was the look of the capital’s children’s shoes: apparently, both we and they did not have the concept of “changeable shoes” at that time - what they wore to school was what they walked around with all day long. In boots or felt boots it was all right, but in rubber boots it was a little heavy. But who remembers this now? - we survived everything. However, we still remember our desks with kind words and tell our grandchildren about them with nostalgic pride.

Introduction.

School furniture in all its diversity did not appear in history right away. The history of school furniture began with the most necessary item for classes -school desk . Although many, out of habit, call the tables in the classroom desks. But for more than 100 years, the desk was the companion of any schoolchild from the first grade to the receipt of a matriculation certificate!

In ancient schools, students were not provided with any special desks or tables. Schoolchildren from the times of Ancient Hellas or Rome wrote on a wax-covered tablet, placing it on their laps.

In the Middle Ages and later times, all students under the supervision of a teacher sat at one table. In some countries they sat on chairs, and in Rus', as a rule, on wooden benches. Then the schoolchildren began studying on the so-called stand - a table with a folding, inclined board, at which they worked while standing. These supplies did not take root at school, but over time they turned into a stationery “office” (it can be seen in drawings and paintingsXIXcentury) and the secretary you know well (which, however, is used while sitting on a chair).

But by the middleXIX

The first to come up with the idea of ​​new school furniture was the famous Russian scientist, professor at Moscow University, specializing in human hygiene, Fedor Fedorovich Erisman...The first attempt to somehow solve the problem of the correct seating of the student in the classroom was crowned with success approximately at the beginning of the second halfXIXcentury, when the Supreme Decree ordered that all schools use desks of the same type.

Target: to investigate and compare the degree of effect of the shape and type of school desk on the health of the student.

Tasks :

Study the literature on this topic;

Get acquainted with the history of the origin of the school desk and its improvement;

Introduce the history of the emergence of a school desk in Russia;

Identify the advantages and disadvantages of a school desk;

Consider the types of school desks in different countries of the world;

To analyze the nature of the impact of school desks on the health of students;

Show the change in the school desk over time and its modern improvement.

Research methods : analysis of literature on the research problem, sociological survey, statistical data, use of Internet resources, adjustments in the design of desks.

Hypothesis : the impact of school desk design on student health.

Object of study : students of MBOU "Lyantorskaya Secondary School No. 3".

Subject of study: school desk.

Practical significance of the project : this project helps to find out the importance of proper school furniture in the formation of a healthy child’s body, the influence of a school desk on the prevention of childhood scoliosis and the development of early myopia in schoolchildren, the formation of correct posture; shows how the convenience of a school desk affects a child’s perseverance and his ability to better assimilate educational material.

Chapter 1. History of the school desk.

1. Erisman's desk

Towards the middleXIXcentury, both teachers and doctors began to wonder - how does sitting for several hours in a row at a table that is not suitable for long studies affect the health of a schoolchild? After all, such an uncomfortable position is very harmful to the spine! Yes, and this deteriorates your eyesight...

The first to come up with the idea of ​​new school furniture was the famous Russian scientist, professor at Moscow University, specializing in human hygiene, Fedor Fedorovich Erisman.

But Erisman’s desks were initially made single-seater. On the one hand, this is good: no one could copy from anyone, no one interfered with anyone. But such desks were quite expensive and took up a lot of space in the classroom. Therefore, most schools of the 20th century used desks for two.

The first attempt to somehow solve the problem of the correct seating of a student in the classroom was crowned with success approximately at the beginning of the second half of the 19th century, when the Supreme Decree ordered that all schools use desks of the same type.
These desks existed unchanged until the second half of the 20th century; our great-great-grandmothers and great-great-grandfathers and all those living today who were born at least before the 50th year sat on them! A rare example of a successful product design, comparable in distribution to a Kalashnikov assault rifle! But most of today’s young furniture makers simply don’t remember this desk. It didn't happen.
It was a powerful structure made entirely of solid oak, individual parts of which had a thickness of up to 40, and even up to 60 mm.

This two-seater desk included two longitudinal runners, on which a seat with a backrest and an inclined tabletop with two folding flaps-lids were attached, under which there was a shelf for briefcases and a thick timber footrest. The edge of the tabletop farthest from the person sitting at the desk was made in the form of a narrow horizontal surface, on which there were two holes where porcelain inkwells were inserted, and two grooves for a pen or pencil.

The entire bottom of the desk was painted with natural and harmless oil paint in a light brown color, and the tabletop was painted black, which changed to light green only in the early 60s of the last century. All the parts from which the desk was glued together did not have any sharp edges or corners. It is also interesting that the hinges of the hinged lids broke quite often, but were not sold anywhere, and their manufacture served as a wonderful activity for boys in labor lessons!

At such a desk, a student could sit in only one, only in the most comfortable position for him, like today’s astronaut in an individual seat. This was facilitated by the required height of the backrest, which supported the lower back, the correctly calculated level of the height of the footrest, the exact distance to it from the front edge of the seat, the correct angle of inclination of the tabletop, etc. And in order for the desks, as they now say, to grow with the student, they were produced in four standard sizes.
That is, already a century and a half ago, the safety of the child was put at the forefront!
Everything was thought out and tested, and fully met the requirements. So, why are these items, so safe and preserving the health of children and adolescents, suddenly not available in our schools? Why are they preserved only in single copies, and only in museums? There is only one single class fully equipped with these desks - in the building of the Simbirsk gymnasium, where Lenin and Kerensky also studied!

1.2 Disadvantage of Erisman's desk
The fact is that such a desk has several significant disadvantages. One of them was that you could only get up from behind it by opening the lid, like the hatch of a tank turret. And every time, on the first of September, the teachers again and again trained the classes to get up from their desks without creating a deafening roar. If a student called to the blackboard stood up, then the textbook or its large notebook was moved forward with the raised lid, caught the inkwell, and all its contents were poured onto the back of the person sitting in front. Moreover, purple ink was then usually reduced with ammonia or ammonia-anise cough drops. But the main difficulty was cleaning the premises. After all, desks connected in one longitudinal row and interlocked with each other by the protruding ends of their runners are an impregnable structure, almost inaccessible to a broom and a rag. After all, when after the revolution the position of cleaners was abolished, and Chekhov’s slogan came into effect: “it’s not clean where it’s dirty...”, - The cleaning was entrusted to the schoolchildren themselves. As a result, real cleaning of the floor began to be done only in the summer - when it was repainted... Such desks with an inclined work surface, a backrest and a footrest help maintain correct posture. And the eyes strain less.Since the students grew older from year to year, desks were made for four age groups. Over time, such desks acquired holes for books, book holders and other devices, and began to be produced in more varied sizes...

1.3 Desk from the 60s.

In the early 60s of the last century, when housing construction finally began, another slogan was announced: “To a new apartment - with new furniture!” New desks were definitely needed! But the state could not bear the enormous costs of completely replacing them, and there simply is not enough oak growing in the country to produce millions of new desks at once.

That's when they came up with cheap tables on tubular metal legs, with an extension chair that could be placed with the legs up - with the seat on the tabletop - during cleaning. In addition, this design helped the teacher at the beginning of the school day to immediately see who was not at school that day. Then, during the “thaw” period, everyone really wanted to somehow move away from this sitting in the classroom in a strict pose, in a row, back to back. I dreamed of the American experience, when students seemed to be engaged in a dialogue with the teacher, sitting at individual tables freely arranged in the classroom. But the harsh reality: a lack of teachers and school facilities soon again forced students to sit two at a time at newly designed tables, still lined up in three rows in the classroom.
Hygienists were immediately horrified by this furniture, back in the 60s, only once seeing how our student sat crookedly behind it.

1.4 Modern school desk.

Furniture for schools is not displayed in stores. It is ordered and purchased in bulk. Doing it is profitable. But to appreciate what our manufacturers offer today, just look through the pagesInternet.

The choice of school furniture is extremely poor. It is noticeable that its design was carried out by home craftsmen who not only did not read the current standards, but also did not even know how a desk differs from a table with a chair - a desk is now indiscriminately called everything that is intended for a student to study while sitting.

All school furniture is similar to what was made in the 60s, only it has become even worse - for some reason it has become unfashionable to comply with even the basic requirements of the standards. Instead of durable, multi-layer plastic, a laminated board is used, the furniture has sharp corners, there is no slope on the tabletops, their height is not adjustable, the height dimensions of children and adolescents are not taken into account, the chair is not adjustable in height, it is impossible to fix it at the required distance from table, no footrests, armrests. Schoolchildren inhale toxic emissions from chipboard throughout their ten years of study; I don’t even want to ask what kind of health our future generations will have. Just look at the statistics of military registration and enlistment offices when conscripting into the army...
It seems that those who develop these products are simply taking revenge on the younger ones for their past ten years of torment at school at an uncomfortable and dangerous table.

For more than 100 years, Erisman's desks stood in all classes of our schools, gradually improving, but without changing the basic idea. But in the 1970s they decided to “improve” school furniture: it’s a mess when modern children are forced to sit at desks invented in the time of Alexander the Second! However, creating something fundamentally new turned out to be more difficult than passing a government decree on this matter. Therefore, the good old desks were simply replaced with ordinary office tables and chairs. Such furniture does not contribute to the health of schoolchildren, and even more so to the growth of academic performance. There are, however, advanced schools that can afford to purchase new, practical and medically correct furniture.

But the design idea does not stand still. There are many projects (developments and even real samples) of the most modern school desks, which not only meet all the requirements of medical science, but also include many achievements of science and technology. Desks that grow with students, desks with computers built into them, and even interactive touch desks developed by Durham University scientists that combine keyboard and display functions. What a student “writes” at such a desk can immediately and easily “appear” on the blackboard or at the teacher’s desk. There is only one thing preventing the introduction of all new technology: such desks are still very expensive. And yet, let's hope that you still have to sit at such miracle desks. After all, time and scientists are working for you!

1. SanPiN norms.

German school desk.

While busy with home comfort and interior design, we sometimes forget about our children. When getting them ready for school, we buy them a desk or desk, which we find in the nearest store or order from an online store. The main criterion in choosing drawers for storage is larger. Then the “child” sits down to do his homework, and we tell him: “sit up straight,” “you’ll break your eyes,” “you’ll get a hump,” well, and so on, depending on the parent’s imagination. All this is correct. It’s just that a child cannot sit at a table with a straight top without bending over.

Fortunately, times sometimes change. According to the new SanPiN, the tabletop of a school desk should have an inclination of 12 to 15 degrees. Sitting behind her, our children simply technically will not be able to “hunch over.” This is already anatomically laid down and invented a century ago .

Material: birch plywood. The intended coating is stain, polyurethane varnish. Height adjustment. Under the tabletop there is a drawer for storing notebooks and books. Will be supplemented with a stopper or gas lift.

A child working at such a desk gets less tired, and the natural material gives warmth and a feeling of comfort. At the moment, "field" tests have shown the full functionality of this desk.

Chapter 2. School desks in different countries of the world.

2.1 Peruvian school.

2.2 Nigeria School

2.3. German schoolchildren

2.4. School in Japan

Classical Japanese lesson (Tokyo)

2.5 Schoolchildren in Brazil

2.6 English school

Chapter 3. The nature of the impact of school desks on the health of students.

3.1 Statistical data

The issue of schoolchildren’s health worried both teachers and doctors back in the 19th century. According to a sociological study, we found that an uncomfortable position is very harmful to the spine (children's scoliosis develops).

And this causes vision to deteriorate and develop (myopia)…

The data is presented in a chart.

Currently, 3% of children in the first years of school already have visual impairments. By grades 3-4 this figure increases to 10%. In grades 7-8 it is 16%, and among high school students almost 20% suffer from myopia.

Today, myopia can rightfully be considered a “aging” disease. This disease is most often found in children aged 8 to 12 years, and in adolescence it intensifies.

Myopia in adolescents has acquired truly frightening proportions in recent years - according to statistics, every third child aged 14-15 years suffers from myopia. Visual acuity stabilizes, as a rule, between the ages of 18 and 25 years.Among students in grades 1-2, myopia occurs in 3-6%, in grades 3-4 - in 6%, in grades 7-8 - in 16%, and in grades 9-10 - in more than 20% . Severe (high, advanced) myopia causes over 30% of low vision and blindness from all eye diseases; it is an obstacle to the choice of many professions.

According to medical examination data, the number of spinal diseases among schoolchildren has almost doubled in recent years. As a result, in four out of five cases this leads to “adult” osteochondrosis, which turns into intervertebral hernias, radiculitis, etc., and makes others disabled. According to in-depth pediatric examinations of children in preschool institutions, in the last decade, disorders of the musculoskeletal system are in first place among all encountered morphofunctional abnormalities. In older preschool age (5-7 years), the number of children with asymmetrical posture and deformities of the chest and lower extremities is growing.

- What are the symptoms of the most common childhood orthopedic disease, scoliosis?

- The Greek word “scoliosis” (in Latin scoliosis) means “crooked”. The main symptom is lateral curvature of the spine and its twisting around its axis (torsion). But this disease should be considered not only as an orthopedic deformity, but as a complex disease of the skeletal and neuromuscular system of a growing organism. This progressive pathology, as it develops, causes severe, often irreversible deformations of the child’s skeleton. In patients with scoliosis, not only the figure is disfigured, but functional disorders of the internal organs occur, primarily the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Short stature, stooping, and in severe cases, a hump, change the psyche of adolescents, especially girls - they become unsociable and irritable. By the way. Girls develop scoliosis 4-6 times more often than boys. The disease begins with poor posture. Parents should be the first to notice the anomaly. Incorrect posture in sitting, standing, and strange gait should not go unnoticed by teachers.

According to research, almost 70% of boys and girls acquire these terrible diseases at school, which means they can be prevented? What preventive measures would you recommend, a specialist who has been working with children for more than 30 years? - If outpatient care is provided in a timely manner, in children with poor posture and scoliosis, it is possible to stop the further increase in deformities and stabilize the spine. However, due to the absence in our country of a unified state program and a poorly developed network of special medical institutions for the treatment of children with postural disorders and initial forms of scoliosis, the vast majority of them are left without qualified help or fall into the hands of non-professionals. The problem is not only medical, but also socio-economic, requiring government intervention.

3.2 Changes in the school desk over time and its modern improvement. For more than 100 years, Erisman's desks stood in all classes of our schools, gradually improving, but without changing the basic idea. But in the 1970s they decided to “improve” school furniture: the good old desks were simply replaced with ordinary office tables and chairs. Such furniture does not contribute to the health of schoolchildren, and even more so to the growth of academic performance. There are, however, advanced schools that can afford to purchase new, practical and medically correct furniture.

Types of school desks:

School desk with adjustable height
1-seater or 2-seater (separate school table, and separate school chairs). A school desk without a tilting tabletop, suitable for first to senior grades. You can adjust the height of the table and chair to suit the changing growth of the child.

Anti-scoliosis school desk with adjustable height
1-seater or 2-seater (separate student table and separate student chairs).
A student or school desk is recommended for younger students, because... it has special grooves on the student’s side, which make it possible to sit as close to the table as possible and the student’s elbows will not sag, and accordingly the spine will be in the correct position. This student's school desk has a standard tabletop tilt of 7 degrees. The student can adjust the height of the school table and school chair to suit his height.