PhD, Associate Professor S.A. Grigan¹
PhD, Associate Professor T.P. Verina²
O.A. Kononenko²
A.G. Lukyashko^2
1North-West Institute of Management of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Saint Petersburg
²Don State Technical University, Rostov-on-Don

Objective of the study is to assess the effect of swimming and exercises aimed at strengthening the core muscles in water on the correction of musculoskeletal disorders in students in the special medical health group ‘A’.
Methods and structure of the study. The research was conducted at DSTU from September to December during physical education classes for students in the special medical group ‘A’. 60 students aged 17–20 were randomly selected and divided into groups of thirty each for the control and experimental groups, matched for gender, age and the nature of their musculoskeletal disorders. The experimental programme was developed in accordance with the principles of adapted physical education: individualisation, gradual progression, accessibility and regularity. The programme combines swimming sessions with the traditional adapted physical education programme provided for in the university’s curriculum.
Results and conclusions. The results obtained confirm the advisability of introducing the developed programme into the physical education system for students in the special medical health group ‘A’ and demonstrate the benefits of a comprehensive approach combining exercises in the aquatic environment and on land. Aquatic therapy programmes combined with land-based exercises lead to a more pronounced improvement in postural control compared with the isolated use of individual methods.

Keywords: students in the special medical group, strengthening of the core muscles, swimming.

References

1. Grigan S.A., Ryzhkin N.V., Korobov I.A., Raskita E.P. Vliyanie sportizirovannykh zanyatiy s ispolzovaniem sredstv plavaniya na detey s problemami umstvennogo razvitiya [The impact of sport-based activities using swimming equipment on children with mental retardation]. Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury. 2025. No. 2. Pp. 34-35.
2. Platonov V.N. Periodizatsiya sportivnoy trenirovki [Periodisation of Sports Training]. Kyiv: Olympic Literature, 2013. 624 p.
3. Prokhorenko A.A., Antonov A.V., Kolesnikov N.V., Striga S.I. Ispolzovanie kompleksa uprazhneniy sportivnogo plavaniya v obuchenii shkolnikov po programme dopolnitelnogo obrazovaniya [Using a complex of sports swimming exercises in teaching schoolchildren under the program of additional education]. Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury. 2025. No. 9. Pp. 29-31.
4. Grigan S.A., Zakharova N.A. The impact of swimming on the motor activity of children with mental retardation. Theory and Practice of Physical Culture. 2025. No. 2. Pp. 43-45.