Introduction: Flexibility is one of the components of Health-Related Fitness. The range of flexion has been the participant of numerous publications, but research into the quality of flexibility is lacking. The aim of the study has been to compare the scores and the quality of the stand and reach test in both overweight girls and boys and girls and boys with normal body weight. We have checked whether the forward bend movement is symmetrically distributed over the hip joints and the lumbar and thoracic spine and how it influences the position of the knee and ankle joints. Material and methods: 100 girls and 100 boys aged 10–14 years were examined. Flexibility was measured using the stand and reach test. The quality of the bend was assessed by examining the range of movement in individual body segments: the range of flexion of the thoracic and lumbar spine (linear measurements), the range of flexion of the hip joint, and the position of the knee and ankle joints at maximum flexion (angular measurements). The results were subjected to statistical analysis. Results: The participants, especially boys, had poor flexibility. A poor stand and reach test result correlated with a lower range of flexion of the thoracic and lumbar spine, greater flexion of the hip and knee joints, and greater plantar flexion at maximum torso bend position. Although the mean stand and reach score was slightly greater for the girls, gender did not significantly differentiate the way in which the stand and reach test was performed. Being overweight also did not affect the quantity or quality of the stand and reach test. Conclusions: Limitation of flexibility is common in 10–14-year-old children and results mainly from limited mobility of the spine. The compensation for this is excessive movement in the joints of the lower extremities.

Introduction: It is widely believed that the postural quality of adolescents is poor and this condition is blamed, at least in part, on a sedentary lifestyle and low self-awareness of body alignment and awareness of movement quality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the postural habits and trunk alignment of high school adolescents against university students with high physical activity and high awareness of the importance of postural quality for health.Material and methods: 59 high school students and 82 university students, male and female, participated in the study. Three-dimensional trunk positioning in habitual standing was investigated using the Zebris Pointer ultrasound device. Awareness of habitual posture during various activities of daily living was assessed using a validated questionnaire. Results were analysed using Statistica v13.Results: High school students were characterised by a greater depth of thoracic kyphosis than university students. Female high school students tended to have shallower lumbar lordosis and male high school students tended to have deeper lordosis. High school students showed worse lateral trunk inclination and greater pelvic to shoulder rotation. The most important observation regarding postural awareness was related to sitting position. Women from both groups were more likely than men to admit to sitting with a bent and rotated trunk and crossed legs.Conclusions: It appears that higher physical activity and / or greater knowledge of university students contributes to more correct trunk positioning compared to the physically inactive high school students. Postural habits, however, are similar in both groups. Gender significantly differentiates both posture and posture-related habits.

Varicella is a common, usually self-limiting, contagious childhood disease. Its clinical presentation in generally healthy children is characteristic enough to allow one to make a diagnosis; however, in immunosuppressed patients the diagnosis may be difficult due to atypical course of the disease. This article presents a diagnostically challenging case of a 5-year-old boy with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukaemia who developed varicella-zoster infection during induction steroid therapy, with an atypical, mild course without fever or pruritus, with eruptions of changed morphology. The presented case shows that in children with leukaemia who have been in contact with individuals with varicella, the occurrence of any rash should raise suspicion of the disease. In this group of patients the diagnostic method of choice is PCR test of skin eruption material. Intravenous acyclovir therapy should be started already before the PCR result comes back.