Kids’ Backpack Loads Causing Pain
Jared Idels, 13, takes the bus to and from Wayland Middle School, so his heavy backpack doesn’t usually bother him. But it became a problem recently when he had to walk his little brother home from elementary school.
“That day he really complained about how heavy his backpack was,” said his mother, Sue. “I don’t think I’d want to walk a mile with that thing on.”
Jared may not be alone in carrying a huge weight on his shoulders, according to a new study.
Simmons College professor Shelly Goodgold found that 55% of the fifth- through eighth-grade students she surveyed carry backpack loads weighing more than 15% of their body weight. One-third of those students said they’ve suffered back pain.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that children carry no more than 10% to 20% of their weight in a backpack.
The results of the new study are to be presented Saturday at a national conference of the American Physical Therapy Assn. in San Antonio. The study was based on a survey of 345 Massachusetts children.
“When you carry something that is really heavy, your head goes forward and you lean forward,” said Goodgold, an associate professor of physical therapy. “This can produce strains in the neck, and strains in the back. Holding it over one shoulder can also create imbalances.”
Previous studies have shown that wearing a backpack on one shoulder might increase the curvature of the spine in scoliosis patients, said Dr. Scott Bautch, president of the American Chiropractic Assn.’s Council on Occupational Health.
Additional studies of backpack pain are underway, including one at Northeastern University focusing on high school students. And the National Assn. of State Textbook Administrators is holding a “Summit on Textbook Size and Weight” at its annual meeting next month.
Goodgold decided to focus her study on growing children after discovering that previous backpack pain studies dealt only with adults.
“On a personal basis, people are very interested in this,” Goodgold said. “We all see it as a problem, but no one wants to do anything about it. Schools are increasing standards, they are raising the level of homework assignments, which means more books to take home.”
The Wayland, Mass., public school system is one of many across the country that have begun to address the problem. School officials there have distributed extra copies of some textbooks to middle school students so they don’t have to carry as many books between school and home.
Goodgold suggests that school districts that can’t afford to buy more books could issue texts on CD-ROM or put them online so students don’t have to take heavy books home.
And some parents are tackling the problem by buying their children better packs.
