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CostaBlancaPeople 18th - 24th January 2022
18th - 24th january - edition 924
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Paediatricians detect pandemic related problems in children Paediatricians in the Valencian Community have detected an increase in psychomotor problems in children due to the pandemic. the pandemic has brought with it a change in children’s habits and activities, with consequences that
are already beginning to come to the attention of paediatricians and other specialists. the greater sedentary lifestyle and overuse of screens over the last two years are causing alterations in muscle tone, balance and speech. experts are also warning that the
more sedentary lifestyle of children over the last two years of pandemic is causing delays in their psychomotor development. Some professionals report that they are attending up to 40% more consultations for these particular problems. dr Saúl López, of the Psicoactua centre commented, “We see that children generally have lower muscle tone and lack of strength in their upper limbs, they also have balance difficulties, many parents consult because their children constantly fall.” dr López said that he and his colleagues are witnessing that the development of motor patterns, such as running or jumping, are delayed. “Parents are concerned that their children, from the age of three, find it difficult to jump, and we even observe how children are taking longer to learn to ride a bike.” these problems generally affect children between the ages of two
and 6. “above those ages we attend to many cases of kids with difficulties maintaining their posture and staying still,” says López. these problems in psychomotor development began to manifest before the pandemic, with the increase of screens, but with the coronavirus they have only worsened. three months of initial confinement have been followed by a year and a half of restrictions, with times when playgrounds have been closed, after-school activities have been suspended and schoolyards have been divided out with less space for children to play. the result is much more sedentary children, a phenomenon that is also closely related to socioeconomic conditions. “a family that has spent these two years in a small apartment with hardly any balcony is not the same as another that lives in a chalet,”
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explains María Garcés, a pediatrician and member of the Valencian Pediatric Society. dr Garcés is also seeing children with delays in the onset of speech, also the result of increased use of screens. on many occasions these delays are confused with more serious problems. “at the 18-month check-up we screen for autism and sometimes the symptoms are confused,” says pediatrician eva Suárez, president of the Valencian Pediatric Society. dr Suárez says that the majority of cases are being detected in children born during confinement or who were very young when lockdown began. Fear on the part of the parents is also a factor, says dr Suárez, saying “there are families who tell us that at 12 or 15 months, children spend more time than is desirable in front of the tV because they don’t dare take them to daycare or leave them with their grandparents.”