IMPROVING AEROBIC CAPACITY AND SPINE FLEXIBILITY THROUGH ADAPTED SWIMMING EXERCISES FOR PUPILS IN PRIMARY SCHOOL

ABSTRACT Proper motor development in primary school children is the main goal of physical education. The most common medical problems for pupils are spinal deformities. Our focus was on correcting different types of spinal deformities through an adapted swimming methodology. This paper discusses the use of specific swimming exercises to improve the aerobic capacity and spinal flexibility in order to acquire good body posture and to prevent further deformities. The contingent of the study were 21 boys and 19 girls, ages 7 - 10, with a medical diagnosis of spinal deformities, which were included in experimental and control groups, doing adapted swimming exercises from our experimental methodology and routine swimming exercises. The research methods were functional tests for assessing the aerobic capacity – spirometry, Hirz in inhale and exhale and spinal flexibility tests – bending left, right, and forwards. They were conducted in March and September 2020. Descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, and correlation analysis were used for data analysis. The research results revealed that the pupils improved their chest mobility, pulmonary function, aerobic capacity, and spine flexibility. Statistically significant differences appeared between the groups in favor of the experimental methodology. The adapted swimming exercises should be used in future practice.