This question was attempted by many candidates and their performance was fair. In part (a) few candidates wrote wrong answers as causes of postural defects e.g. kyphosis, lordosis, scoliosis, k-leg, bow-leg, overfeeding, underfeeding, emotion and mental disorder. In part (b) candidates equally did fairly well meanwhile, some canddiates wrote out of context such as wearing of dirty clothes, carrying heavy load on head and back, irregular physical excercise involving in self medication and taking hard drugs as ways of preventing postural defects. In part (c) candidates correctly named ways of correcting postural defects.
However, the expected answers were as follows:
6 (a) Causes of postural defects
- occupation
- heredity
- muscular weakness/weak muscles/loss of muscle tone
- lack of exercise/over exercise
- tight fitting shoes/high heel shoes/uneven sole shoes
- bad habits/bad sitting/walking/standing/lifting habit/poor mechanics of movement
- injury/infection/disease
- accident.
- malnutrition/poor nutrition
- abnormal bone alignment
- imitation
- tight clothing/wear
- carrying heavy load on the back
- rapid growth/disproportionate growth
- age
- lack of immunization
(b) Ways of Preventing postural defects
- education on correct sitting/walking/lifting /standing position
- provision of standard seat
- wearing comfortable clothing and shoes
- regular and appropriate exercise
- good nutrition/balanced and adequate diet
- early detection and treatment of diseases
- adherence to vaccine schedule e.g. poliomyelitis
- avoidance of harmful substances by pregnant women e.g. alcohol, tobacco,
hard drugs, self-medication
- adherence to safety rules and regulations.
(c) Ways of correcting postural defects
- regular and appropriate exercise
- physiotherapy/named e.g massaging, heat, thermotherapy, hydrotherapy
- good nutrition/balanced diet
- good habits/sitting/walking/standing/lifting objects
