Back to School, How Heavy is the Load?

 
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It is estimated that nearly 40 million U.S. students will carry a backpack this school year. With backpack use among children so widespread, how can parents ensure that their children stay safe and healthy while carrying their load? Just how heavy should your child's backpack be? How can you tell if your child's backpack is too heavy? Could carrying a heavy backpack cause health problems for your child?

How Heavy Should Your Child's Backpack Be: Why All the Concern?

Heavy backpacks can and do cause serious and sometimes lifelong injury to children. A recent survey of children who use backpacks by the Backpack Intelligence Program found startling results. Almost 3/4 of the students polled reported experiencing three or more of the warning signs that their backpack was too heavy.

How Heavy Should Your Child's Backpack Be: Signs Backpack is Too Heavy

Does your child complain of back pain? Does he walk bent over to try and carry the heavy load in his backpack? Could your child's backpack be too heavy?

Five Warning Signs developed from the Backpack Intelligence Program

  1. Struggling to put on or take off the backpack
  2. Pain when wearing the backpack
  3. Numbness or Tingling
  4. Red Marks
  5. Noticeable changes in Posture

*Shelley A. Goodgold, a physical therapist who developed the Backpack Intelligence Program to raise awareness of how backpacks can cause injuries in children, offers parents several signs they can look for to determine if their child's backpack is too heavy.

How Heavy Should Your Child's Backpack Be: Professional Weight Recommendations?

The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons has introduced some guidelines to help parents make sure their children avoid injury from carrying a backpack that is too heavy. A child's backpack should weigh no more than 15% of their total body weight. That means if your child weighs 100 pounds, their backpack should weigh no more than 15 pounds. If you have a question about whether or not your child's backpack is within safe weight limits, get out that bathroom scale and do the calculations.

Medical Problems Caused by Heavy Backpacks

Backpacks that are too heavy can cause a whole host of medical problems. During the many growth spurts of childhood and adolescence, bones and the tissues of the body are especially susceptible to injury. Carrying a backpack that is too heavy can cause a curvature of the spine, inflammation of growth cartilage (apophysitis), permanent changes to posture, compression injuries, nerve damage, stress fractures in the spine (spondylolysis), muscle fatigue, chronic low level trauma to the shoulders, neck and back and impaired shock absorption.

What Can Parents Do?

So what can parents do to help lighten their child's backpack load? Have your child use a backpack with two wide padded shoulder straps. Teach your child how to properly pack their backpack. Make sure your child knows and follows proper backpack carrying techniques. Parents can also have their child use a backpack with wheels. Parents should monitor and periodically weigh their child's backpack load. Talk with your child about how and why it's important to keep the weight in their backpack within safe limits.