SUBJECTIVE ASSESSMENT OF MUSCULOSKELETAL SYSTEM STATE, PREFERENCES, MOTIVES FOR PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HEALTH ENHANCING ACTIVITIES OF WOMEN IN THE SECOND PERIOD OF THEIR ADULTHOOD

Abstract

The relevance of the issue. Throughout the centuries-old history of mankind, at various stages of society development, great attention has always been paid to the study of health problems. Representatives of various sciences and professions made attempts to uncover the secrets of health phenomenon, to determine its essence in order to learn how to skilfully manage it, to find means for its maintenance. Currently, in Ukraine, the most common diseases among middle-aged women are diseases of the cardiovascular, respiratory and nervous systems, as well as musculoskeletal system, in the treatment and prevention of which physical exercises play a significant role. The aim of the study is to determine the subjective assessment of musculoskeletal system state, preferences, motives for physical education and health enhancing activities of women aged 36–40. Research methods include analysis of literary sources, questionnaires, methods of mathematical statistics. Regarding methods of statistical processing of research data, primary statistical processing of research materials, correlation analysis, and methods of comparing independent samples were used. In the process of mathematical processing, the following statistical characteristics were calculated, namely: to describe the primary statistics, the value of arithmetic mean ( õ ), standard deviation (σ), dispersion (s^2), median (Me), mode (Mo) were calculated; for the correlation analysis of the survey results on research subjects Kendell's τ-b correlation coefficient was applied. The statistical processing of the research results was carried out using the IBM SPSS Statistics 21 software, the graphic material was designed by means of Microsoft Excel package. 16 female respondents aged 36 to 40 took part in the empirical study. Research results. It has been established that already in the first months after childbirth, almost all women felt pain or discomfort in the back, and some of them experienced it in the elbow and knee joints, in the thoracic, lumbar and cervical regions of the spine as well. It has been determined that there are certain differences between women who gave birth for one child and those who have 2 or more children. For example, women who gave birth to and raised one child were more likely to go through a normal delivery, tended to hold the child in their arms while sitting, carried the child with one hand on a walk, felt less pain in the joints and various parts of the spine, more often assessed their health status only as satisfactory. Unlike them, in women who had two or more children, childbirth was more often pathological, the duration of breastfeeding among them was longer, just as the habit of holding the baby while standing was more common. Currently, quite a lot of research subjects experience various types of postural disorders, but they consider their own health to be satisfactory, lead an active lifestyle, and strive to improve their health during health enhancing fitness classes. Conclusions. The transformation of the latest scientific ideas into a strategy for improving health of middle-aged women requires development and implementation of effective innovative technologies. Today, health fitness systems are recognized as the most popular and effective means of dealing with functional posture disorders.