Effect of Swimming on Infants´ Motor Development and Physical Health

Abstract

Research background. Infant motor disorders and slow phase of motion enhancement are big problems in modern society. One of the main reasons is the child's physical health because in infancy body is more susceptible to easily spreading diseases. According to the scientific literature accumulated over the last century, the most effective rehabilitation tool for strengthening the immune system and correcting motor development is individually adapted physical The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of swimming on infant motor development and physical Research methods. The study included 34 babies aged 6 to 18 months who did not have congenital health disorders or acquired traumas. Seventeen of these infants had attended swimming sessions for more than 3 months – they formed the first group of subjects. The other 17 infants formed the second group of subjects. The study assessed the motor skills of infants according to the Peabody motor development scale and analyzed physical health condition using the questionnaire survey Research results. Comparing the differences between the percentile, age equivalent and chronological age averages of these two groups, it was observed that the results of the first group in which the infants attended swimming sessions were statistically significantly higher than in the second group (p < 0.05). After analyzing the morbidity rate distribution between the groups, it was observed that in the first group there were statistically significantly more infants who were not ill than in the second group, also both groups contained the same number of infants who were ill 1–2 times and in the second group there were more infants who were ill 3–4 times (p < Conclusions. Motor development and the physical health status of the first group of infants who had attended swimming activities were statistically significantly higher than those of the second group, who did not have this type of activity.

Keywords: infant, swimming, motor development, physical health.