Heavy backpacks linked to back problems among students Deseret News (Salt Lake City), by Jennifer Toomer-Cook Deseret Morning News MURRAY -- Chandler Daniels sometimes carries two backpacks to Riverview Junior High: one with her volleyball clothes, pads, shoes and water bottles; the other, packed with textbooks, notebooks, pencils and such. Its a heavy load, but, as the ninth-grade class vice president and her classmates say, necessary and not something to worry about. But maybe it should be cause for concern, says the American Occupational Therapy Association. The group says six out of 10 students between the ages of 9 and 20 years old report chronic back pain related to the loads theyre carrying in their backpacks. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says heavy backpacks and bookbags were related to more than 7,000 emergency room visits in 2001. The matter will be highlighted tomorrow as part of National School Backpack Awareness Day, sponsored by AOTA. J.E. Cosgriff Memorial School in Salt Lake City will receive a safety presentation -- including weighing backpacks and offering safety tips -- from Nancy Johns, clinical education coordinator for the Division of Occupational Therapy at the University of Utah. Smaller kids in middle school I think are at the biggest risk for injury, as they start receiving heavier textbooks and homework assignments to transport. Some kids are so small, they really should have a rolling pack. Health officials recommend children carry backpacks no heavier than 15 percent of their body weight. So, if a student is 100 pounds, her backpack should weigh no more than 15 pounds. Yet one study shows the average students backpack equals 25 percent of his or her body weight, AOTA reports. Riverview Junior High student leaders interviewed for this article say theyre sure their backpacks are over the weight limit, at least some of the time. Eighth-grade class president Riley Grandinetti packs extra stuff when he cleans out his locker, estimating his backpack might weigh 20 pounds when hes done. Sometimes, he forgets to unload it and carries the extra weight around for a few days. But more often, students say their packs are heavy with books alone. My backs killing me by the time I get home, said seventh- grade class president Rayce Bryan, who walks to school. You have to do it (carry the books). If you dont, youll get an F.
Posted on: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 23:14:43 +0000
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