Back to School: Backpacks and Your Son's Health

With the new school year around the corner, is your son shopping for a new backpack?  Raising Boys World crunches some numbers and takes a look at how overloaded backpacks can really weigh down on your son’s health.

In 2008, Consumer Reports conducted a study in Amityville, NY with children in second grade, fourth grade, and sixth grade from three different schools, and these were the findings:
As expected, the sixth grade kids had, on average, the heaviest backpacks at 18.4 pounds, followed by the second graders at 5.3 pounds, then the fourth graders at 4.6 pounds.

The American Academy of Pediatrics agree that the backpack a child carries should weight no more than 10% to 20% of the child’s weight.  Looking back at our sample, the sixth graders were, on average, carrying 17.2% of their weight, the second graders - 8.6%, and the fourth graders - 5.6%.  The second and fourth grade children did not seem to be at risk, but the sixth grade children’s average backpack weight are pretty close to the 20% mark.

In addition, many of these sixth grade children had only three chances to visit their lockers - in the morning, lunch, then at the end of the day (a common scenario in many middle schools), which means that they had to carry almost everything they needed that day in their backpacks.  Heavy backpacks adds stress on the spine and shoulders, causing muscle strain, fatigue, and bad posture (a bad habit that can cause other back problems in the future), and in some cases, medical attention does become necessary.

Here are some good tips to remember when shopping for a new backpack with your son:

• The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons recommends a backpack that hangs two inches above the waist.  The lower the backpack hangs below the waist, the more strain it puts on the shoulders.
• Look for wide, padded shoulder strap and remind your son to wear both straps.  Carrying the backpack by only one strap puts the entire weight of it on one side of the back, which increases the risk for lower back pain.
• A hip strap can help distribute the weight between the back and the hips.
• align: baseline;">Have your son pack the heaviest items close to the back.

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