INTRODUCTION: During the period of growth and body development, it is possible to occur changes in posture that may result from wrong breathing, through the mouth. OBJECTIVES: To determine whether the presence of postural changes is related to the presence of mouth breathing in children from second to fourth grade of elementary school. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study included 117 children with mean age of 9.017 ± 0.851 years, 54 males and 63 females. The evaluation consisted of a questionnaire about signs and symptoms of mouth breathing and a photogrammetric postural assessment with the software SAPO®. The analysis of the comparison between groups was made by student's t-test and Mann-Whitney; and for association analysis it was used the Fisher Exact test. It was considered p < 0.05 as significance level. RESULTS: Regarding the type of breathing, prevailed, significantly, mouth breathing compared to nasal breathing (p < 0.001). For the vertical alignment of head, anteriorization predominated in both views. For the horizontal asymmetry of scapula, there was a predominance of asymmetry to the left. For the horizontal alignment of the pelvis, anteversion predominated in both views. In measuring the angle leg/hindfoot, prevailed calcaneal valgus right and left. The differences observed between groups of mouth breathing and nasal breathing were not significant (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: It was found a high percentage of children with signs and symptoms of mouth breathing and postural changes, but it was not found relationship between this findings.
Mouth breathing; Posture; Physical therapy
