School Backpacks, Back Pain, & Injury Prevention
Preventing Injuries from Kids' Book Bags
Jul 28, 2009
In 2001, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found that book bag related injuries accounted for 7,000 emergency room visits (American Chiropractic Association 2007). The number of children reporting back pain and back injuries has increased dramatically in recent years. The ACA points its finger at over-laden kids' school backpacks as a potential cause.
How Kids' School Backpacks Can Cause Back Pain and Injury
While backpacks certainly are a helpful tool for managing school books and ot her supplies, and allow children to carry more than they could in their arms, the problem is that kids are carrying far more than what their bodies can handle. It seems that kids' school backpacks, back pain, and injury all go hand-in-hand.
Additionally, though backpacks are designed to be carried over two shoulders, most kids and teens prefer to carry the load coolly slung over one shoulder. In doing so, the weight is not distributed as it should be and children's backs are bearing the burden inefficiently.
The Effects of Heavy School Bags on Children's Backs
When kids carry fully packed bags day in and day out, it causes their body to compensate for their weighty load. What has been found that with time kids:
- Begin to lean forward and thereby throw off their natural sense of balance
- Experience an alteration in the curve of the middle and lower back.
- This increases muscle strain and irritates spinal joints Develop a rounding of the shoulders
How to Prevent Injury From Heavy Book Bags
The relieving news is that there are many things that kids and parents can do to avoid back pain or spinal injury while scurrying to class to class with their books and other supplies.
- Make sure the backpack is an appropriate size for the child. Bigger bags encourage overfilling the backpack. Note that school totes should not hang lower than 4 inches below the waist line.
- Backpacks should not account for more than 10% of the child's body weight.
- Backpacks that feature locking chest clips and/or waist clips improve how the bag is positioned on the body. These clips also encourage children to wear the bag over both shoulders as they were meant to be worn.
- Shoulder straps should be wide, adjustable, and padded.
- Bags with compartments improve how items can be organized, making for a stable load.
- Children should also be taught to stack heaviest items closer to their back with lighter items toward the outside.
- If access to lockers is limited, parents should have discussions with the teachers and administration regarding how the weight of bags can be further limited. Ergonomic backpacks are also available, such as the BackTpack (see photo), which is better designed for carrying school loads.
Professionals agree that it is wise to be more discerning about which backpacks and book bags kids use and how they use them. While kids' school backpacks are a big culprit in causing back pain, parents and kids can easily find proactive solutions to prevent injuries.
References
American Chiropractic Association, 2007.
John J. Triano, DC, PhD. Backpacks and Back Pain in Children. Spine - Health, 2001.
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