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Tips For Backpack Safety
Selecting a back pack:
·Choose one that's appropriate to
the child's size and age, school backpacks come in different
sizes for different ages.
· Select a pack with well-padded
shoulder straps. The shoulders and neck are rich in blood vessels
and nerves that when constricted can cause pain and tingling
in the neck, arms, and hands.
· When shopping for a school back
pack, take along books and other materials that the child would
carry to judge how each pack varies when fully loaded.
Loading a pack:
· Never allow a child to carry more
than 15% of his or her body weight. That means a child who weighs
100 pounds should not carry a school backpack that weighs more
than 15 pounds.
· Load heaviest items closest to
the child's back.
· Pack items neatly and organized
to keep books and materials from sliding around in the pack,
shifting the weight.
Wearing a pack:
· Always wear both shoulder straps
to distribute weight evenly. Wearing a pack slung over one shoulder
can cause a person to lean to one side and curve the spine.
· Adjust the shoulder straps so
that the pack fits snugly to the child's back. A pack that hangs
loosely from the back can pull the child backwards and strain
muscles between the shoulders.
· The bottom of the pack should
rest in the curve of the lower back. It should never rest more
than four inches below the child's waistline.
Need more information?
Dr. Berkebile is trained in helping children
with a broad range of issues in addition to proper school backpack
use that can affect a child's performance and health. For more
information about these and other children-related problems call
Berkebile Chiropractic at
(814) 266-3775.
Email: dcberk@yahoo.com
ATTN: Parent Teacher
organizations, Backpack
Safety Committees should be formed throughout all school districts.
This means implementing a comprehensive educational program in
the schools that will deliver the guidelines for proper backpack
use. |
Facts about
School Backpacks!
Teachers
do you want Dr. Berkebile to come and speak to your class about
backpack safety? Give him a call.
Background Facts on
School Backpacks
· More than 40
million students carry school backpacks (Teaching Elementary
Physical Health, March 1999).
· Recent research
study published in the "Archives of Disease and Childhood"
2003 reports. Every year more than 13,000 backpack related office
or emergency room visits in the United States occur with school
age children. In the past four years there have been more than
twenty documented studies showing that improperly worn backpacks
may cause long term damage to a growing spine.
· A 1999 study
by Simmons College (Boston) professor Dr. Shelly Goodgold, Sc.D
found that more than half of children in a study regularly carried
more than the recommended 15% of their body weight in their school
backpacks.
· The U.S. Consumer
Product Safety Commission estimated that more than 3,300 children,
aged 5-14 years, were treated in emergency rooms for injuries
related to backpacks in 1998; these numbers do not include students
who went to family physicians or orthopedists.
· A study by Auburn
University researchers (Anniston, Alabama, Pascoe, et al) stated
the most common symptom reported from back-pack use is “rucksack
palsy.” This condition results when pressure put on the
nerve in the shoulder causes numbness in the hands, muscle wasting,
and in extreme cases, nerve damage (Journal Ergonomics, vol.
40, #6, 1997).
· 58% of orthopedists
polled in 1999 in Chicago and Wilmington, Delaware, reported
treating children with back or shoulder pain attributable to
carrying backpacks.
 
Kid's Overloaded
Backpacks May Cause Back Pain
Parents, teachers, and
school officials urged to work as a team to “lighten the
load”.
Johnstown and the surrounding areas are just a part of the more
than 40 million students that carry back-packs. About 20 million
carry in those packs more than the recommended weigh. This backpack
“overload” sent over 3,000 children, ages 5-14, to
hospital emergency rooms in 1999 for injuries related to backpack.
The latest study in 2003 showed that 13,000 school age related
children had backpack related injuries.
These numbers were expected
to rise (and they have) as schools around the country, for security
reasons, remove or restrict access to lockers, forcing students
to rely more heavily on backpacks to carry books and personal
belongings.
Each year, I grow more
concerned as I see children with problems associated with backpacks.
Complaints include headaches, neck and shoulder pain, and numbness
into the arms and hands. Studies show a direct connection to
these problems being associated to an overloaded and ill-fitted
backpacks. The body is trying to compensate for the change caused
by the backpack’s added weight. The spine in particular,
can be affected as it bends and twists to reposition this added
backpack weight. When this happens pain usually results.
Other problems associated
with backpack overload is conditions called “Cervicobrachial
syndrome and or Thoracic Outlet Syndrome”. A heavily loaded
backpack causes the shoulder straps to compress delicate nerves,
arteries and veins passing underneath. This can lead to numbness
and tingling in the arms.
Help is on the way. A
international organization called Backpack Safety for Kids tm was
formed to raise the awareness in local communities to health
dangers overloaded backpacks can have on children. “Local
health care professionals must work together with parents, school
officials and children to identify backpack problems and their
solutions.” says Dr. Joseph Ventura, Executive Director
of Backpack Safety for Kids. “Our organization works directly
with local doctors to establish Backpack Safety Days in schools
and, to offer backpack analysis in the doctor’s office.”
For more information, contact Berkebile Chiropractic at (814)
266-3775.
New Software
Program Calculates Back Pack Stress
 
Copyright
Ventura DesignsÒ 2002
Using a digital camera,
and a new advanced software program, Dr. Berkebile can identify
backpack safety warnings before they become serious problems.
The software can calculate
how much weight can safely be placed in the backpack, and show
how the child's posture may be affected by an overloaded or illfitted
backback.
The analysis only takes
about 5 minutes and can help prevent back and neck pain associated
with overloaded back packs.
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