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H Lavallée

Publications and source records attributed to H Lavallée.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

Effects of enhanced physical education on lung volumes of primary school children.

OBJECTIVE: To test the impact of an enhanced physical education programme upon the growth and development of static and dynamic lung volumes of primary schoolchildren. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Quasi-experimental three factor design (treatment x gender x urban vs rural environment) with students evaluated over each of 6 years of primary school. SETTING: Entire classes from State schools in urban and rural environment. PARTICIPANTS: All willing students aged 7-12 years in selected classes; initially 546 students, with 4% drop-out rate per year. INTERVENTION: Five hours of additional physical education per week, taught by specialist. MEASURES: Body dimension (height, body mass), aerobic power (treadmill to exhaustion), forced vital capacity (FVC), one second forced expiratory volume (FEV1.0). RESULTS: Small but statistically significant influences of treatment, gender (M > F) and environment (rural > urban) which could not be explained by body size. Both FVC and FEV1.0 conform closely to cubic functions of height in metres: Boys FVC = 0.93 (H)3, FEV1.0 = 0.79 (H)3. Girls FVC +/- 0.85 (H)3, FEV1.0 = 0.76 (H)3. CONCLUSIONS: A regular physical education programme can enhance lung volumes in primary school students. Norms should allow for gender differences, and reflect the potential attainment of students receiving adequate physical training and living in an area of low air pollution.

Child↗

Changes of physical performance as indicators of the response to enhanced physical education.

The value of field performance tests in the assessment of a programme of enhanced physical education has been examined in a 3-factor study of students over all 6 primary school grades. The enhanced programme under review offered a one hour of required physical education daily from age 7 to 12 years, taught by a specialist physical educator. Control students from immediately preceding and succeeding classes continued with the standard programme, a standard single period of physical education per week taught by a nonspecialist. Subjects were classed by gender, environment (urban vs rural school) and the experimental intervention to allow analysis by MANOVA. Students in the experimental programme showed small but statistically significant gains in laboratory measures of aerobic power and muscle strength relative to controls. In general, these responses were mirrored by gains in scores on the Canadian Association for Health Physical Education and Recreation (CAHPER) field performance test battery. The latter tests also suggested gains of anaerobic power, coordination and muscular endurance. It is concluded that an enhanced programme of physical education can enhance function in primary school students, but the size of gains is not a strong argument for such programmes. Further, gains in performance test scores indicate the direction, but not necessarily the magnitude of programme responses.

Anaerobic Threshold↗

Testing for inter-group contamination in a controlled longitudinal study of added physical education.

OBJECTIVE: This case report examines whether there was any cross-contamination between students enrolled in classes that received additional physical education, and their siblings who were enrolled in preceding and succeeding class-cohorts. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: A controlled longitudinal study extending over 6 years of primary school. SETTING: An urban and a rural primary school in Québec. PARTICIPANTS: 546 primary students, comprising approximately equal numbers of boys and girls from the urban and the rural school. INTERVENTION: Entire class-cohorts were given and hour of additional physical education ach day throughout their primary schooling, with immediately preceding and succeeding class-cohorts serving as controls. MEASURES: The measured data included standing height, body mass, maximal oxygen intake (direct treadmill test) and PWC170. RESULTS: We found no evidence of cross-contamination between siblings in experimental and control class-cohorts. CONCLUSION: Although a theoretical possibility, cross-contamination between students in preceding and succeeding class-cohorts does not seem an important source of error in primary school students, presumably because such children prefer to play with friends from their immediate age cohort.

Bias↗

[Bone maturity and physical performance].

We have examined the relation between physical performance (as measured with the CAHPER tests), bone age (Greulich and Pyl's wrist evaluation) and dental age (Garn's method). Our study included 164 boys and 149 girls aged from 7 to 11. In spite of interesting significant simple correlation between most of the CAHPER tests and bone age measurements for the pre-pubescent period, the latter remains of negligible value in predicting physical performance in the studied children when variables like chronological age, body height and body weight are already included in the prediction equation.

Age Determination by Skeleton↗

[Sport medicine].

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Athletic Injuries↗

Body dimensions of Québecois children.

The present study examined the impact of sociocultural factors upon the body dimensions of primary school children (age 6-12 years) living within a uniquely francophone region of Québec. Data was collected prospectively on 546 students, drawn in approximately equal numbers from the two sexes and from urban and rural environments. Habitual activity was modified by allocating a half of the sample to an experimental programme that incorporated an additional five hours of required endurance activity per week into the primary school curriculum. Body dimensions at any given age were less in rural than in urban Québec, probably because of continuing socio-economic constraints. However, an increase of habitual physical activity did not modify body size. Stature was comparable with Demirjian 's Montr eal sample of francophone children, but was less than for anglophone children. Our within-sample variance suggests that socio-economic factors could explain only a part of the discrepancy. Relative to Toronto students, other dimensions such as height were affected less than standing height.

Anthropometry↗