Each school year millions of children walk to, from and around school carrying backpacks filled with books and materials. Parents should be aware that overly stressing the back with a heavy backpack could cause back pain in their child. Following a few guidelines and using common sense can help avoid this type of back pain. Using a backpack allows a person to carry more items than would be possible by the arms and hands alone. The risk, however, is overload, which can strain the back, neck or shoulders.
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, there has been an almost 300 percent increase in backpack-related injuries among children since 1996. A 2004 study of 3,498 students whose backpack weight was measured found back pain to be highly prevalent, severe and chronic, and showed a link between backpack weight and back pain.
The good news is that this is one health problem that can easily be avoided by following a few simple, preventive measures. Backpack injuries can be stopped before they occur if parents take the time to choose the right pack and teach their children how to wear it correctly.
The weight of a child's backpack is widely thought to contribute to back pain. No studies directly support numerous general guidelines on backpack use. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between back pain and backpack weight in an American school population. If you are a back pain sufferer and you feel that you are depressed, the best thing to do is to contact a doctor.
Part of the challenge in raising awareness about backpack injuries is that the harm can occur without obvious symptoms. Like a car out of alignment, you don't know it until the tires wear out. Young people may be experiencing only mild symptoms now, but this could be a preview of future problems like chronic back pain and spine degeneration later in life.
A recent research paper from France (Viry et al., 1999) tried to answer this question by giving a questionnaire to 123 eighth grade students. Students were asked how they got to school (walk or ride), how they carried their back packs (by hand or on the shoulders), how much their packs weighed, and if they had any back pain.
The average age of the students was 14 years, the average body weight of the students was 113 pounds (51.5 kg), and the average weight of their backpacks was 21.1 pounds (9.6 kg). This means that the students were carrying backpacks that weighed almost 20% of their body weight. On the day that the students answered the questionnaire, 27.6% said they had back pain. A large number (82.9%) of the students said they had back pain sometime during the previous 12 months.
Glen Wood - The Yoga Teacher. Glen is a yoga expert who loves to teach you how to lose your neck, shoulder or back pain with yoga. He is dedicated to unlocking the Real Secrets of Back, Neck and Shoulder Pain.
