As your kids are heading back to school and stuffing their backpack full of school supplies and books, it is important for parents to make sure that their backpack isn’t too heavy. Did you know that most children carry their backpack improperly? Misusing a backpack and wearing it improperly can lead to long-term health problems or injuries. According the WebMd, your child’s backpack shouldn’t weigh more than 15% to 20% of your child’s body weight. For example, a child who weighs 100 lbs shouldn’t carry more than 20 pounds in their backpack. This includes all of your child’s of books, supplies, and their belongings. A textbook typically weighs between 3 and 4 pounds. If your child is carrying several books in the backpack, your child could easily go over their maximum weight limit. If you child is constantly carrying around a backpack that is too heavy, your child could be at risk for potential neck, shoulder, or back problems.
Disclosure: This post is for informational purposes only. If your child is complaining about neck, shoulder, pain between their shoulder blades, or back pain, please see your child’s doctor immediately to rule out serious health problems or injuries.
Teach Your Child How to Properly Wear a Backpack
Your child’s backpack is a useful tool and they come in a wide variety of sizes, styles, and colors. A backpack that is used correctly should rely on your core muscles (back and stomach muscles) to carry the load evenly. It is important that your child places the shoulder straps over both shoulders. While it may seem easier to carry your backpack over one shoulder, it is actually harmful to your upper and lower back, shoulders, and neck. Most people aren’t aware that your body will automatically try to compensate the additional weight naturally. Most kids lean towards the opposite side of their body to offset the extra weight.
Carefully Select a Backpack That Has Wide Straps to Prevent Your Child From Having Neck or Shoulder Problems
When you are selecting a backpack for your child, make sure that you choose a backpack that has wide straps. Wide straps not only help distribute the weight properly but it also prevents the shoulder straps from digging into your shoulders. If your child is carrying a backpack that has thin or narrow straps, you should immediately replace the backpack to avoid circulation and nerve problems. Symptoms of circulation or nerve problems from thin, narrow straps include: weakness in the arms or hands, tingling sensation (similar to that feeling when your extremities fall asleep), numbness, shoulder pain, or upper back pain.
Teach Your Child How to Protect Their Back From Injuries and Potential Problems in the Future
Your child’s back consists of 33 bones and there are discs that are between each vertebrae. The discs in your back act as a shock absorber and protect the bones in your back from rubbing against each other. The discs are filled with a gel like fluid and over time the disc will start breaking down. If the back is subjected to constant abuse you have a higher risk for arthritis, degenerative disc disease, slipped disc, a herniated disc, or other back problems. When your child is young, it is important to teach them the importance of taking care of their back.
What Happens to Your Child’s Back When They Are Constantly Carrying A Backpack That Is Too Heavy
When your child carries more than 15 to 20% of their body weight on their shoulders, it is can cause stress on your child’s neck, shoulders, and back. A backpack that is too heavy will often cause your child’s spine to bend slightly backwards. When your child feels their back bending slightly backwards, most children will bend forward trying to compensate the extra weight on their back. Never bend at the hips or arch your back to compensate a heavy load. In fact, if your child is bending or leaning forward incorrectly it can cause the vertebrae in your spine to compress the disc or nerves. Compressing the discs or nerves unnaturally over and over can cause your child to continually damage the discs, nerves, or the vertebrae in their spine. If you child starts complaining of neck, shoulder, pain between their shoulder blades, or back pain, you should immediately check to see if their backpack is too heavy and have them evaluated by a doctor.
Teach Your Child To Lighten Their Load on a Daily Basis
When your child comes home each day from school, have them clean out their backpack and remove any unnecessary items. If your child’s backpack is anything like my older son’s, it is always overflowing with returned papers or he has it stuffed full with all of his belongings. Teach your child to only put the items that they need into their backpack. If it is too heavy, tell them to carry some of the items in their hand to avoid unnecessary strain on their back. If possible, talk to your child in order to determine if they are carrying to many books in their backpack during the day. As a student, I remember that I had to carry several books in my backpack because it wasn’t convenient to stop by my locker after each class. Instead, teach your child the importance of dropping off unused books or items into their locker periodically during the day so that they are only carrying around the things they need during class.
Prevent Long-Term Health Problems
I suffer from chronic low back pain and I know how important it is to take care of your back. Your back is very fragile and one wrong move or injury could leave you or your child with long-term health problems. My pain was caused by a car accident and over the years things have gotten progressively worse (typical aging problems). My initial injury never fully healed when I was younger. I wrote this post to help inform parents of the potential long-term health problems that can be easily prevented.
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Does your child wear his or her backpack incorrectly? Have you ever weighed your child’s backpack to determine if they are carrying around to much on a daily basis?
