The school year is officially underway and while kids and teens will fill their heads with knowledge over the next semester, they will also fill their backpacks with textbooks, binders, computers, and other items that if not carried correctly, can be detrimental to their health.
Next Wednesday September 21st is National School Backpack Awareness Day. This occurs on the third Wednesday each year in order to help raise awareness of the impact heavy bags and backpacks can have on your child’s back.
We met with Occupational Therapist Alison Chapa with Covenant Health Outpatient Therapy to discuss what you should look for in a backpack to prevent lifelong health issues and the problems that will occur if this is overlooked.
“A backpack should fit evenly on the child. It should not extend past their torso or past their shoulders. It should also only fall at their waist, like the lower curve of their back. It should not go further than four inches from their waist.”
Alison also recommends that the backpack should only hold 10% of the weight of your child.
“So if you have a child that weighs 100 pounds, the backpack should only weigh 10 pounds.”
If your child is carrying more than 20% of their weight on their back, studies have shown that it can cause a multitude of health issues.
“Over time it creates poor posture, it can cause shoulder pain, back pain, if you don’t have the thicker straps, if you have little thin straps, it can actually cause nerve damage and effect the blood flow to the arm.”
Therefore it is very important to pick a backpack size that matches your child. A few other tips to remember are to carry the backpack on both shoulders, wear it tight to the body, look for a backpack with compartments to help distribute the weight, and keep heavier items outside of the backpack.
