Postural control and breathing are mechanically and neuromuscularly interdependent. Both systems- of spinal stability and respiration- involve the diaphragm, transversus abdominis, intercostal muscles, internal oblique muscles and pelvic floor muscles. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of exercises activating deep stabilizer muscles on postural control and quality of breathing movements. Eighteen volunteers (25,7 ± 3,5) were recruited from the general population. All the subjects implemented an exercise program activating deep muscles. Head, pelvic and trunk positions in the sagittal and frontal planes were assessed with the photogrammetric method. Breathing movements were estimated with the respiratory inductive plethysmography. The results indicate that the use of deep muscle training contributed to a significant change in the position of the body in the sagittal plane (p = 0.008) and the increase in the amplitude of breathing (p = 0.001).

This study in children aged 6–13 years (n = 1,499) was performed between October 2008 and March 2009. Height and weight measurements were taken to calculate BMI. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was determined by means of IOTF cut-offs with respect to age. Alarming is the fact that the percentage of obese children in Cracow increased dramatically from 1.04% in boys and 0.20% in girls in 1971 to 7% in boys and 3.6% in girls in 2009. In this report, a higher percentage of overweight boys was observed in rural boys (28.14%) than in urban ones (27.31%). Obesity was identified in an almost twice as high percentage of urban boys (7.78%) as in rural ones (3.52%). A higher percentage of overweight girls was registered in rural areas (16.49%) than in urban ones (16.09%). Obesity was prevailing in rural girls (4.12%) relative to their urban counterparts (3.44%). The highest number of overweight urban boys was diagnosed in the group of 12-year-olds (n = 48) and rural boys in the group of 10-year-olds (n = 39), as well as in urban girls aged 11 (n = 17) and rural girls aged 9 (n = 9). The highest number of obesity was observed in rural boys aged 12 (n = 3) and in urban boys aged 9 and 10 (n = 9 in both groups). In the group of girls, obesity prevailed in urban 9-year-olds (n = 5) and in rural 7-year-olds (n = 5). Conclusions: Overweight and obesity affect boys almost twice as frequently as girls. Obesity is twice as frequent in urban boys as in their rural peers.

The head is an important element of the biokinetic chain. Under physiological conditions, it should extend along the midline of the body. Due to its location and the fact that it constitutes approx. 6% of the total body weight, many authors believe it has a significant impact on its functioning. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic literature search and to synthesize the evidence of the impact of the head posture on the functioning of the human body. A systematic review was conducted within 3 databases: PubMed, Medline OVID, and EBSCO, using the following terms: "forward head," "posture," "position," and "neck." For the analysis, scientific articles published after 2013 were selected. A total of 16 studies matched the in clusion criteria of this systematic review. Their results have proven that the position of the head has a significant effect on the human body. Research findings show that abnormal head position changes affect muscle activity, proprioception, the pattern of breathing and neck pain. This is the first systematic review of the relationship between the head posture, and the functioning of the human body. The results of this study seem to be promising if used in therapeutic practice.

The aim of this study was to evaluate if low-frequency, low-magnitude vibrations (LFLM) could enhance chondrogenic differentiation potential of human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells (hASCs) with simultaneous inhibition of their adipogenic properties for biomedical purposes. We developed a prototype device that induces low-magnitude (0.3 g) low-frequency vibrations with the following frequencies: 25, 35 and 45 Hz. Afterwards, we used human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cell (hASCS), to investigate their cellular response to the mechanical signals. We have also evaluated hASCs morphological and proliferative activity changes in response to each frequency. Induction of chondrogenesis in hASCs, under the influence of a 35 Hz signal leads to most effective and stable cartilaginous tissue formation through highest secretion of Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2 (BMP-2), and Collagen type II, with low concentration of Collagen type I. These results correlated well with appropriate gene expression level. Simultaneously, we observed significant up-regulation of α3, α4, β1 and β3 integrins in chondroblast progenitor cells treated with 35 Hz vibrations, as well as Sox-9. Interestingly, we noticed that application of 35 Hz frequencies significantly inhibited adipogenesis of hASCs. The obtained results suggest that application of LFLM vibrations together with stem cell therapy might be a promising tool in cartilage regeneration.