|
  |
|
|
Is Your Child’s Backpack Too Heavy?
By Ali Rafie of Midwest Chiropractic
Is Your Child’s Backpack Too Heavy?
OK. Maybe you have more important things to worry about. It is not like carrying a heavy backpack with a lot of school books can cause serious illnesses, like scoliosis (at least there are no published reports linking heavy backpacks to scoliosis yet).
Still, carrying a heavy backpack can be a source of chronic, low-level trauma, and can cause chronic shoulder, neck and back pain in your children.
Is carrying a heavy backpack to school causing health problems for your kids? It might if they are carrying more than 10-20% of their body weight in their backpack, especially if they have to walk to school and/or they are carrying their backpack on only one shoulder.
Fortunately, the fashion of carrying a backpack on only one shoulder seems to be fading. Unfortunately the heft of books that your child needs to carry on any given day seems to be rising. Some things to think about when considering your child and his/her backpack:
Does your child complain of back pain?
Does he walk bent over sideways to try to adjust for the heavy load of a backpack?
Does he complain of numbness and tingling in his arms or hands?
Does he carry more than 10-20% of her body weight in his backpack? Top of Form
If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, you might want to take some steps to minimize the chances that carrying a backpack will cause your child back pain or other health problems, including: * limiting the weight your child carries in a backpack to 10-20% of his body weight
* buying a backpack that has wide, padded shoulder straps and a waste belt
* avoiding messenger type, single strap bags for your child to carry his school books and supplies
* encouraging your child to wear his backpack over both shoulders
* consider using a backpack with wheels
* consider having a second set of text books available at home so that your child doesn't have to carry his books home regularly. Because of the expense, this usually only works if your child's school is doing it as a general policy, which some are, although they are doing it because they want to eliminate school lockers and not because of backpack safety.
* getting your child evaluated by your pediatrician or chiropractor. Although back pain is becoming more common in older adolescents, it is not as common in younger children and may be a sign of a more serious problem, such as spondylolysis, spondylolisthesis, disk herniation, diskitis, a sport's injury, or a tumor or infection. Don't assume that your child's back pain is caused by a heavy backpack, especially if the pain is very severe or persistent or if it lingers even after you lighten your child's backpack load.
As school is quickly called back into session, it’s important for parents to pay attention to what’s happening both in and out of the classroom. Although school supplies and textbooks are imperative to your child’s education, don’t forget to monitor their effects on your child’s health to ensure a safe and fun school year.
Dr. Ali Rafie is a board certified chiropractic physician and the owner of several multidisciplinary medical offices throughout the Windy City. Dr. Rafie is motivated by a deep commitment to helping people and considers it a priority to serve his community, which is why he regularly publishes articles covering a broad range of wellness topics.
|
http://www.midwestchiropractic.com/blog
PLEASE VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S WEBSITE
No reactions yet.
Please login or sign up to rate this intel.
Please login or sign up to add a comment.
Thank you for sharing this backpack information, Ali.
It's amazing that more parents and school officials don't put more importance into proper backpacks.
Keep up the good work.
Best wishes.
Frederick
The copyright for this content entitled "Is Your Child’s Backpack Too Heavy?" has been specified by the contributor as:
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0
Details 
This content may be copied and distributed (but not modified), as long as the original author is acknowledged with a link back to the content page.
If you use this content according to the license specified, you must link to the following URL:
http://midwestchiro.qondio.com/
|
 |
May, 2012
2008
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2009
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2010
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2011
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2012
January, February, March, April, May
|
|
Not a member yet?
Qondio is a powerful network for making it online. If you have a website to
promote, we can help.
Sign up and get in on the action.
|
|
Welcome to Qondio! Discover the awesome power this network can deliver by going to our About page. Or you could skip straight to the Sign Up form.
|
|
