Posture
Attention should be given the habits of the children and especially the posture of the child as he sits in the seat at his desk. A faulty posture may result in an adaptative curvature of the spine which in later years will do much harm. The sitting posture is of more importance than the standing posture since the child sits so much more than he stands.
The pupil should not be allowed to sit in a stooped position over his desk as this cramps the chest and interferes with respiration, makes the heart action labored and produces round shoulders; it also tends to produce a kyphosis in the dorsal region of the spine. If a child persists in sitting in this stooped position and finds it difficult to sit in the proper position, attention should be given the spine, for subluxations will be found which are interfering with the transmission of mental impulses to the muscles of the back, thus making it difficult for the child to sit in the normal posture. Or it may be defective eyes which make it difficult for the child to see his work and he therefore stoops that the work may be brought nearer the eyes. In this case a cervical subluxation will be found and when properly adjusted no more trouble will be experienced. It may be this tendency to stoop is the result of fatigue; to overcome this he should be given periods of rest and relaxation from time to time during school hours; or this fatigue may be due to poor elimination from the kidney place subluxations.