Backpack Safety

As summer is winding down, families of school-aged children are getting ready to return to the classroom.  This is a very busy time as everyone is heading to the stores to buy clothes, shoes, notebooks, calculators, pens, pencils...it seems never ending!  An important investment in your child’s health is the correct backpack.  Be sure to look for one with wide shoulder straps and padding in the back panel and in the shoulder straps.  Once you have the right backpack, you need to use it correctly. 

A properly filled backpack should not weigh more than 20% of your child’s current weight.  For example, if your child weighs 100 pounds, the backpack should weigh 20 pounds or less.  When the backpack is too heavy, the child carrying it will bend forward to compensate for the weight.  This can lead to neck pain, back pain, shoulder pain, and headaches.  The arteries and nerves underneath the shoulder straps can also be irritated by a heavy backpack and cause numbness, tingling, and altered sensations in their arms like coldness and weakness.  This compression on their bodies is not good for the discs between their vertebrae or the joints in the body.  It also places a strain on the arches of the feet.  

Pack heavier items centrally and closer to your child’s back.  The backpack should be as high on their backs as possible.  The bottom of the backpack should be located 2 inches above their hips.  It should also stay steady when they walk.  If the bag is constantly shifting side to side as they walk, tighten the shoulder straps.  Both shoulder straps should be worn over both shoulders.  If only one is used, the body will be twisted from the weight of the backpack on that side.  This can lead to the problems listed above plus it can also affect how they walk and cause asymmetry in their muscle tone.  Poor posture and altered gait patterns can cause back pain, hip pain, knee pain, and ankle pain.   

Things have changed since I was in high school.  Lockers aren’t used like they were when I was still in school.  Find out which books and supplies are needed for each school day.  Your children most likely do not need to bring every book and all of their supplies to school everyday.  Educate them in the fact that their backpacks shouldn’t be hurting them.  Make sure they know they can talk to you if their backpack is causing them pain.  As parents, we should check on their backpacks periodically throughout the school year.  Set reminders on your phone to go through their backpack at least twice per month.  Look for shoulder straps that need to be tightened, make sure “extras” aren’t being added to the backpack, inspect the linings for tears (which indicate it is too heavy), and remind them to put the heavy items near their backs inside the backpack.   

One last thing to consider is applying reflective strips to the backpack if your child has to walk to the bus stop in the dark.  If they think that won’t be “cool’, they can carry a flashlight to point at the ground as they walk to and wait at their bus stop.

Even if you take all of the necessary precautions, they still might feel pain and fatigue from lugging a backpack around school all day.  With proper chiropractic care, your child’s growing body will better adapt to the many changes that it will face in the coming years.  They might experience less pain, sleep better, and feel more focused on their school work.  All of this would lead to increased productivity and allow them to enjoy recreational activities while balancing homework and other commitments they have made like a part time job.  Chiropractic offers a solid foundation upon which your child’s future physical health can begin to grow.  No one is too young to start taking care of their bodies.