Weight Called Least of Backpack Hazards
From Times Wire Reports
Schoolchildren who lug around heavy backpacks are more likely to get hurt tripping over them than suffer back strains from carrying them, researchers said.
Most backpack-linked injuries are cuts and sprains from tripping over or getting hit by one, or gouging a hand while reaching inside, the report in the journal Pediatrics said.
Heavily publicized warnings to lighten schoolchildren’s backpacks would eliminate fewer than one-quarter of pack-related injuries. Teaching children to put packs out of harm’s way and not swing them like a mace would pay bigger safety dividends, it said.
