2 The health of children and adolescents. Physical development.

Health is also defined as a state of complete physical, moral, and social well-being, and not just the absence of disease and physical defects ”(WHO: Statutes. Geneva, 1986 p.1).
One of the most important indicators of a growing body's health is physical development.

Physical development of a child is understood to mean the degree of development of morpho-functional features, which, on the one hand, determine the physical strength of his physical strength, and, on the other hand, are a criterion for the normality of the growth and formation of the child’s body at any particular age. Physical development is subject to general biological laws, as well as the action of socio-economic, biomedical and environmental factors.
According to most researchers, the following trends are currently observed in Russia in the physical development of children and adolescents:
- completion of growth and development acceleration;
- an increase in the number of children with short stature and underweight, with a lag in biological development;
- Reduction of latitudinal and girth body size and functional parameters.
There are five groups of children's health.
Depending on their belonging to one or another group of health, children and adolescents need a differentiated approach in the development of a complex of therapeutic and prophylactic measures.