Physical Education is an educational course related to the physique of the human body, taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting to promote health. In essence, learning how to utilize our body parts for movement, be it for sports/recreation. After all, the difference between the living and the dead is movement and life is all about movement.
So now let's look at the objectives of physical education in our system. The following information can be found in MOE's webpage. Its kinda chunky, so let's cut the chase and go straight to the point that I wish to discuss (in bold).
Objective of Physical Education Syllabus:
(Primary level) Building a strong foundation in fundamental movement skills (FMS) and broad-based development through a range of enjoyable and varied physical activities. FMS, incorporating movement concepts of body awareness, space awareness, effort and relationships, will be taught across the activity areas of athletics, dance, games/sports, gymnastics, and swimming.
The key issue I want to point out is "building a strong foundation in fundamental movement skills".
As a physiotherapist, it is common to see faulty movement patterns being produced, not just by patients, but by the general population. How many of us actually have optimal movement patterns? How many of us are at high risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders?
Movement has been taken for granted. As a child, how many of us were taught how to walk or crawl or even run? It has been assumed to be a natural learning process, but in fact it is not. Movement is learned through experimental, observational learning and further reinforced through various conditioning. As a result, it is fairly common to see parents and child with similar gait patterns, not just because of genes, but because the first point of contact is our parents, hence, we model most of their movements. As humans procreate, genes are passed down, including the result of repetitive movements - our posture and joint alignment. As technology replaces physical demands, we have lost the drive to move for survival. The result - sedentary human beings, the worst case scenario:
Literally. back to square one if you fast forward evolution.
In my time or more accurately to say up till this point in time, physical education revolves around fitness - a measurement of muscular and cardiovascular performance. Basically, valuing results more than the process which is commonly seen in various society settings. This obsession with fitness not only applies to individuals and school, but even in the army. The result - totally unnecessary irreversible damage to our body in worse case scenarios and true enough, that's what physiotherapists see very often.
So am I trying to say that we should have a textbook and manual to learn how to move?
True enough, every individual has their own unique movement patterns. There's 101 ways to achieve a movement such as walking but at what cost? The cost of the hip joint? Or knee cartilage? Or the feet? Or spine? Sure, you got an A in IPPT but you busted your knees for the rest of your life, how cool is that? Is as good as whipping up a delicious meal but you ended up burning your entire kitchen in the process.
Movement patterns are not just some absolute figures that confine movement, but rather a guideline that promotes natural and proper joint mechanics, reducing the risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders.
And so the ultimate question - do physical education teachers have sufficient knowledge in this field expertise of movement patterns and human biomechanics? If not, should the role and expertise of physiotherapy be extended to the education system? Also, in addition to fitness testing, should a component of functional movement screening, which screens for movement pattern faults and can be easily conducted in the absence of physiotherapists, be considered in the system?
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