Anthropometry is the primary method.anthropological research, which consists in measuring the human body and its parts in order to establish the sex, racial, age and other features of the physical structure, which allow to give quantitative characteristics of their variability.
Life is a continuous development process involvingstages of maturation, adulthood and aging. Development and growth are two interdependent and interrelated sides of a single process. Development is characterized by qualitative changes, differentiation of organs and tissues and their functional improvement. And growth is a quantitative change that is associated with an increase in the size of cells, the mass of tissues and organs, and the whole organism.
Physical development is one of the most importantindicators of human health and age standards of improvement. Practical ability to properly assess it contributes to the upbringing of a healthy generation. This article will discuss the algorithm for measuring height and weight.
Factors that influence anthropometric indices
In the human body continuously flowthe processes of energy exchange and metabolism, they determine its features of development. Mass, height, consistency in the increase of different parts of the body, proportions - all this is programmed by hereditary mechanisms. The sequence of development can be disturbed under the influence of some external and internal factors. The first include social conditions, a sedentary lifestyle, unfavorable intrauterine development, poor nutrition, improper work and rest, bad habits, ecology.
Internal factors include heredity and the presence of various diseases.
Knowing the algorithm for measuring height and weight, one can visually evaluate the physical development.
Conditions for the study
Anthropometry requires use carefullyadjusted and tested instruments: stadiometer, weights, dynamometer, measuring tape, etc. Measurements are recommended to be done in the first half of the day on an empty stomach or two to three hours after meals. Clothes on the subject should be light - knitted. If measurements are planned to be carried out in the second half of the day, a horizontal position should be taken for ten to fifteen minutes before this.
That the subsequent assessment was effective,You must comply with the algorithm for measuring the height of the patient. It should be remembered that the analysis of anthropometric indicators is an essential element of the study of how physical development corresponds to age standards. Detected abnormalities may be a sign of a particular disease or a risk factor.
Standing growth measurement
Поскольку к вечеру человек становится ниже на one or two centimeters, due to natural fatigue, flattening of the arch of the foot and intervertebral cartilaginous disks, decrease in muscle tone, it is desirable to measure growth in the morning. The algorithm includes three stages: preparation for the procedure, measurement and completion of the procedure. We will tell about each of them.
Preparation
- In accordance with the instructions to prepare the height gauge for work.
- Introduce yourself to the patient, tell him about the course of the upcoming procedure and get his consent.
- Hygienically treat your hands and dry them.
- Place a napkin on the stadiometer pad (under the patient's feet).
- Ask the subject to remove the hat and shoes.
- The height of the stadiometer to raise above the expected growth of the subject.
Taking measurement
- The patient must stand on the platform of the stadiometer so that the back of the head, the interscapular region, the buttocks and the heels touch the vertical bar.
- The head of the patient should be set so that the earlobe and the tip of the nose are on the same horizontal line.
- The height meter bar should be lowered onto the patient's head without pressing down.
- Ask the subject to leave the site, if necessary, to help him do it.
- On the bottom edge of the slats on the scale to determine the growth.
End of procedure
- Report the measurement results surveyed.
- The napkin should be removed from the stadiometer platform and put in a container designed for waste.
- To process hands in the hygienic way and to dry.
- In the medical records to make the appropriate record of the results of the procedure.
Sitting height measurement
The algorithm for measuring the patient's height in the sitting position is somewhat different from the above.
- You must ask the patient to sit on the folding seat of the stadiometer, previously covered with oilcloth.
- The patient should sit so as to touch three points - the shoulder blades, the back of the head and the buttocks - a vertical bar with a scale.
- The head of the patient should be set so that the earlobe and the tip of the nose are on the same horizontal line.
- The measuring bar should be lowered on the patient's head, press it to the scale and ask the subject to stand up.
- On the left side of the scale it is necessary to take readings, then lower the bar.
- Similar to the above, record the results and inform the patient about them.
Measuring Pregnancy Height: Algorithm
First you need to explain to a pregnant woman the purpose and course of the procedure. The algorithm for measuring growth is:
- Stand up on the side of the stadiometer and raise the bar above the level of the expected growth of the subject.
- Беременную попросить встать на площадку ростомера so that the buttocks, heels and shoulder blades touch the stand of the device, and the head is in such a position that the outer corner of the eye and the trestle of the ear are on the same horizontal line.
- The height meter bar should be lowered on the crown of the pregnant woman and on the scale to determine the number of centimeters from the bottom level of the bar.
- The obtained data must be recorded in the patient's individual card.
- The height meter should be treated with a cloth that is wetted in a solution (0.5%) of calcium hypochlorite.
- Wash hands thoroughly.
Body weight measurement
Knowing how to measure height, the weight determination algorithm will be extremely easy to remember. The procedure also consists of three stages.
Preparing to measure weight
- First, in accordance with the instructions, you should check the accuracy and operability of medical scales.
- It is necessary to establish the balance of the device, if mechanical structures are used - close the valve.
- On the platform weights need to lay a napkin for single use.
- The person conducting the procedure should explain to the patient the sequence of the upcoming actions.
- Hands should be hygienically cleaned and dried.
Performing the procedure
- The subject should be offered to undress before the underwear, as well as take off his shoes. Ask him to carefully stand on the platform weights in the middle.
- At the time of getting up on the measurement panel, the weights of the subject must be held by the hand, in the process of measuring it is important to monitor his balance.
- If you use a mechanical design, you need to open the shutter scales.
- Following the instructions for use of the device, it is necessary to determine the body weight of the subject.
End of procedure
- The patient should report the results of the measurement of weight and help him get off the measuring panel, if necessary, hold the hand.
- Remove the napkin from the weighing pad and send it to a container intended for waste.
- Hands should be hygienically cleaned and dried.
- The results must be recorded in the appropriate documentation.
Algorithm for measuring growth in children of different ages
How to measure the growth of the newborn?The algorithm requires a stadiometer in the form of a board with a width of 40 and a length of 80 centimeters. On the left side of the device there should be a centimeter scale with a fixed transverse bar at the beginning and a movable, easily moving transverse bar on the scale at the end.
Technique for measuring baby growth
- Малыша необходимо уложить на спину таким образом, so that his head touches the fixed transverse bar of the stadiometer. It should be positioned so that the upper edge of the trestle ear and the lower edge of the orbit are in the same horizontal plane.
- The mother of the child or the assistant measuring should tightly fix the head of the baby.
- The legs of the newborn should be straightened bylight pressure on the knees with the palm of one hand, and the second hand should be tightly to the heels to bring the movable bar of the stadiometer, while the foot should be bent to the shins to a right angle. The distance from the fixed to the mobile bar and will be the growth of the child. It is necessary to note the length to the nearest millimeter.
How to measure growth in older children
The algorithm for measuring the growth of a child up to the year waspresented above, and what technique of performing the procedure will suit older children? In this case, a height gauge is required in the form of a wooden bar eight to ten centimeters wide, about two meters long and five to seven centimeters thick. The front vertical surface of the bar should contain two scales of division in centimeters: on the left - to measure sitting height, on the right - standing. There should also be a movable twenty-centimeter plank. A bench is attached to a vertical bar at the height of forty centimeters from a wooden platform to measure height when sitting.
The algorithm for measuring height in children aged one year and older is similar to that used for adults.
Body weight of the child
In comparison with the growth of the weight of the baby is morea labile indicator that reflects the degree of development of the muscular and skeletal systems, subcutaneous fatty tissue, internal organs, and depends not only on constitutional features, but also on environmental factors, such as mental and physical exertion, nutrition, etc.
Usually the algorithm for measuring the weight (as well as the algorithmmeasuring growth) does not cause difficulties. Children up to three years old with a mass of up to twenty kilograms are weighed on a pan scale consisting of rocker arms and a tray with the lower (in kg) and upper (in g) scales of divisions. Children from the age of three are weighed on a scale.
