THE MULTIPLE ALARMING STUDIES: BACKPACKS AND KIDS ARE A CONCERN!

Everyday carrying heavy school bag is one of the most stressing experiences for a school going child. There are several harmful effects of overburdening children's tiny shoulders, back and neck at this little age. Children's pack various books: they even pack what may not be important for that day.

Do parents realize...?

Many children and their parents do not know the impact of heavy bags on their backs in the long run. Carrying heavy bags can affect a child physically and mentally. It has been suggested that schoolbags represent a considerable daily „occupational load‟ for schoolchildren. The weight carried by students varies from day to day and studies have reported different results regarding the average schoolbag weight. Musculoskeletal experts are warning we are facing an epidemic of back problems in young adults when the long-term effects of this early damage start to appear.

But does it make a difference on which side?

There are several bad effects of overburdening children’s tiny shoulders, back and neck at this little age. Carrying heavy backpacks can lead to muscular and skeletal problems, especially if the child carries the bag on one shoulder or maintains bad posture while carrying the bag. This also led to stunted growth of bones among children. The pain and physical discomfort resulting from carrying a heavy school bag can also result in stress and lack of attentiveness in a child and can affecting their learning.

40% students carry 5kg, 30% students carry 7kg, 10% students carry more than 5kg and 5% students carry less than 5kg.

My child is displaying a weird posture

During their early schooling period, the body growth is relatively stable and the balanced body posture during the period of seven to eight years of age is dominant. However, when the child begins its schooling, the time spent in sitting position is extended than before which can result in disorders of posturogenesis (Spine malformation). Hence, this period is defined as “The first critical period of posturogenesis”. According to latest literatures, this problem affects between 40% and 70% of children in developed countries.

The pain associated with back pack

Excessive load on back causes lifetime back pain and spinal deformities in children. The pain associated with carrying a backpack is referred to as “backpack syndrome”. This syndrome includes the factors like, abnormal body posture causing headaches, fatigue, cervical and lumbar pain, and structure of body.

Add electronics to the weight of back packs

School children carry their belongings to, from and around school every day. They include textbooks, lunch, sports equipment and more recently electronic gadgets like tablets, laptops etc. Together these items can represent a substantial weight. There has been considerable concern towards schoolbag carriage from students, parents and both education and medical professionals in all parts of the world. To be more specific lack of availability of lockers and load due to schoolbags appear to be of greatest concern. Nowadays there is a belief that heavy load bags may predispose students to musculoskeletal discomfort (MSD), particularly in the upper back and lower middle and neck regions.

Absence of lockers for individual student in school is the reason for carrying heavy load on back for longer duration which may add to developing of MSD [1].

The high school students (around 13 years of age) appear to be at more risk of exposure than that of early grade students to physically demanding schoolbag carriage.

Find out here how to help solve the back pack problem