The posture of school children was studied to find the method to correct their poor postures. The development of the back muscles which are related to the posture maintenance and the equilibrium was also examined.
Moiré-topography method was used for measurement. Subjects were 537 boys and girls at 2nd to 6th grade of elementary school and the their full-length bach figures were photogrphed.
The following results were obtained.
1. Those who had an abnormal posture were 239 pupils, 44.5% of the whole. Those who had a normal one were 298, 55.5%.
2. As for the reform training, the following exercise proved to be effective. The child whose right side waist is higher than the left should turn the face rightward, wherever practicable, carry the bag in the right hand, and stand on an inclined plane as the right side on the inclined side. The child whose left waist is higher than the right should do the reverse movements.
3. Most of the child who had good posture could stand on one leg with eyes closed for longer time, and balanced themselves on the forward side of their legs when they stood correct. Their good poise had no relation to the development of the back muscles.

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Six Elderly males (EM; average age 69.0yrs) who have no abnormal sign of cardiovascular function and 6 healthy young adult males (YM; average age 22.5yrs) performed 10 min of self-pace snow shoveling for the purpose of eleciting the characteristics of the physiogical responses to snow shoveling with aging. RPE was roughly the same level (Mean±SE, YM: 13.0±0.5 vs EM: 12.5±0.3) between YM and EM. In spite of the fact that average shoveling performance was slightly higher in EM than YM, VO2 in YM was significantly higher than EM during exercise both in terms of the absolute value (YM: 1.29±0.10L/min vs EM: 0.86±0.10L/min, p<0.001) and relative value (YM: 18.5±1.5ml/kg/min vs EM: 15.4±1.7ml/kg/min, p<0.01). Average heart rate values at rest (YM: 70±4bpm vs EM: 74±2bpm), during exercise (YM: 110±6bpm vs EM: 115±8bpm) and 4th minute in recovery period (YM: 79±6bpm vs EM: 86±7bpm) were higher in EM than YE, although none of these periods revealed significant difference. There was no difference in the mean values at rest both in systolic BP and diastolic BP between the two groups. Significant differences were found in systolic BP during 4th minute in recovery period (YM: 132±5mmHg vs EM: 163±9mmHg, p<0.05) and diastolic BP during exercise (YM: 70±3mmHg vs EM: 82 f 3mmHg, p<0.05) and recovery period (YM: 71±4mmHg vs EG: 83±3mmHg, p<0.05). These results suggests that the blood pressure responses including recovery period characterize the demands on the cardiovascular function for the aged people engaging in snow shoveling.

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For the purpose of studying the contribution of physical education program to the growth and development of schoolchildren in Japan, the practice of physical education program of Japanese style was carried out for 2 years in the Republic of Honduras where a formal physical education has not been developed well.
In comparison with the control group which didn't have any activity of physical education, the effect of physical education program on the growth in the experimental group was not recognized, and the effect on the basic motor abilities such as running and throwing, except jumping, was less than expected.
However, flexibility and some other items of physical fitness which the central nervous system controls such as agility, coordination and balance were significantly improved. These effects were recognized in both sexes and all age groups, and even those girls in the mid-adolescence improved their abilities.

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This paper is to determine the PHV and examine the growth velocity curve which differenciated the growth distance curve approximated by the Wavelet Interpolation Method in weight growth. Longitudinal data of 98 male students aged 6 to 17 in weight were obtained retrospectively from health examination records in 1983. Especially, it was hypothesized that the true growth curve based upon the Multiresolution phenomenon (Self-similar phenomenon which like Fractal), described the growth curve approximated for the hypothesized true growth curve by the WIM. Mean PHV age in weight was 12.60 (years) with judging from the growth velocity curve approximated by the WIM. Mean differences between the PHV age in height and weight were 0.394 years (P<0.01). Furthermore, the correlation coefficients between the PHV age of height and weight were 0.4049 (P<0.01) and the regression equation of the PHV age in weight for in height was y_t=0.5253x_t+6.188. The appearance rate in the mid-growth spurt of weight was more than that of height.

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According to the annual reports of physical fitness and motor ability by Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, children and youth have been improving consistently in the anthropometric measures since the survey of this kind initiated but lowering consistently in flexibility since first half of 1970s. The following criticism was reported; such lowering trend of flexibility has been caused by the measuring procedure of flexibility and not reflected by substantial deterioration of flexibility. It is true that the measuring method used in the survey is actually influenced by body linearity; stature, lower limb length and sitting height and so on, because the distance in trunk flexion and extenstion are measured. Then, in this paper, the annual changing trend of flexibility was estimated with the annual increase of stature taken into consideration under the assumption of linearity, and this estimated trends were compared with the actual annual changing trends of flexibility. All grades of the estimated annual trends in trunk flexion were found negative and significantly smaller in absolute value than the actual ones, so it was concluded that the actual deterioration trends can be explained partly by the increase of stature but the substantial deterioration also has appeared in flexibility. Furthermore, the body linearity elements would relate positively with trunk extension measures, but most of the grades were negative for trunk extension. This suggests also that the substantial deterioration has appeared in flexibility.

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Human physique and physical fitness might be influenced by genetic factors as well as environment and life style such as diets, exercising habit, etc. especially during growing periods. Comparing Japanese in Japan with people of Japanese parentage who were born and grew up in foreign countries may be a useful method of studying this problem. The major countries where a large number of people of Japanese descent live are the U.S.A. and Brazil, but to go to those countries to conduct an investigation is not convenient. Recently, there are many 2nd and 3rd generation Japanese-Brazilians who live in Japan and work for Japanese manufacturing companies. In this study, these Japanese-Brazilians were used as the subjects, and their physique and physical fitness were tested and measured to compare the data with the existing data for Japanese. The statistical result showed that in most of the testing and measuring items Japanese scored higher both in physique and in physical fitness than Japanese-Brazilians.

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The purpose of this study was to discuss the relationship of physique and dietary intake to motor ability in childhood. One-hundred and sixty kindergarten children were divided into three groups based on their motor ability (low-ranking, middle-ranking and high-ranking). Standing height and body weight significantly correlated with motor ability, but skin fold thickness did not. Energy and nutrients, except Calcium, from meals of the low-ranking group was the lowest in the three groups, although they met the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for Japanese. There was no significant correlation between dietary intake and motor ability even though the dietary intake in the high-ranking group was better than those in the low- and middle-ranking groups.

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The purpose of this study is to examine the visual control of gait in the long jump approach for school children and untrained college students.
Analysis of existing film records revealed that all subjects adopted a visual control strategy at some points during their final strides. School children adopted a visual control from one stride to five strides away from the takeoff zone of 150cm, from one stride to four strides away from takeoff zone of 50cm, and from one stride to ten strides away from takeoff zone of 20cm. College students, on the other hand, adopted a visual control from one stride to eight strides away from the takeoff zone of 150cm, and from one stride to four strides away from the takeoff zone of 50cm and 20cm.
This was thus taken to indicate that visual control of gait in the long jump approach is not a specially trained skill as much as it is a natural means of controlling gait. School children, however, differed from college students in the control of gait for three takeoff zones.

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The method of ridge regression analysis are most useful for analysis that are hindered by high correlations among the independent variables. In this study, prediction of the total body water (TBW) was attempted from standing height (HT), body weight (WT), and eight girth measurements of trunk and extremes (G0=chest girth, G1=neck, G2=abdominal, G3=hip, G4=upperarm, G5=forearm, G6=thigh, G7=lower leg) by this regression procedure. As the result, it was concluded that G2, G3, G4, Wt and G0 should be removed.

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It is reported that physical growth of blind and partially sighted children is in a poor level and the adolescent growth spurt is earlier in the blind than in the partially sighted and the sighted. Most of studies of age at menarche have noted earlier onset in the blind than in the sighted. These studies have suggested that blindness is associated with an age of menarche which is earlier than sighted adolescents. Previous studies described delays in the appearance of motor skills, especially agility, with poor physical work capacity and balance. A recent research has suggested that the physical work capacity and postural control of the blind and partially sighted can be developed by appropriate training. By some well-designed program, the blind and partially sighted children should be able to enhance the ability to use their potential to the fullest. The adapted physical activity should be better understood.

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