Is your backpack giving your backbones all the beating?

Those backpacks are cool in school but when load exceeds 10 percent of a person’s weight, it could give all the beating.

Giving lectures on backpack safety, Chiropractic specialist Serry Alfonso Pizarro II of InterCare cautioned that school children often carry loads of books and materials in a backpack, unaware the “excess” baggage may actually put them at risk of clinical problems. Among these are muscle fatigue and muscle imbalance that could turn into chronic neck problems and spine degeneration later in life.  The same risk holds true for adults who carry backpacks to work, travel or camping and whether one is in the military or a mountaineer.

“Overloading is the chief culprit in backpack related injuries,” Pizarro said.

A weighty problem.

Apparently backpack designers didn’t quite expect it would be such a weighty problem. Backpacks or knapsacks as these are also called, are cloth sacks carried on one’s back and secured with two straps that go over the shoulders and below the armpits. Straps over the shoulders are specifically intended for carrying heavy loads for long periods of time. Among the early users of backpacks were the military, campers and mountaineers. But with new designs it has found its functionality among chic fashion, executives and school children.

For all its functionality, it is perhaps because there is scant awareness on backpack safety that many children and even adults who carry backpacks are prematurely giving their backbones a real beating. The backbone and shoulder bones help provide support to the body but each person has an optimal load capacity. Beyond that, those bones could break.

More than overloading, the weightier problem is that backpack injuries are lightly esteemed especially among Filipinos. Chiropractic Dr. James Pardis said that a growing and often overlooked health problem for children is back injury arising from overloaded and ill-fitting backpacks that have been causing pain and injury at “an alarming rate.”

Speaking in generalities Pardis said, “As many as 55 percent of today’s students are carrying loads far in excess of the recommended limit with some students carrying packs exceeding 40 pounds.”

Quoting from surveys done by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, Pardis said that there has been nearly a 300 percent increase in backpack-related injuries among children since 1996. The problem is compounded by the increase in childhood obesity because while an obese child is out of shape, it makes it difficult for him to support any extra weight on the back.

No symptoms, painful preview.

Pizarro deplored that while US doctors have done extensive studies on backpack safety, there is scant concern in the Philippines. He said that many schools in the Philippines, especially public schools, do not provide lockers so that children are forced to bring all these books and notebooks, in an overload that will give them pain on the back they don’t deserve.

Said Pardis, “part of the challenge in raising awareness about backpack injuries is that harm can occur without obvious symptoms – like a car out of alignment, you don’t know it until the tires wear out. Young people may be experiencing only mild symptoms now, but this could be a preview of future problems like chronic back pain and spine degeneration.”

 What is adding weight to the problem is that initiatives for team up among chiropractors, local schools and business to raise awareness on backpack safety are almost unheard of especially in Cebu.

Padded and lightweight.

Said Pizarro, “Do not overload. No one should carry more than 25 pounds in a backpack. Pack only what you need.” He said that the acceptable load in a backpack is related to the child’s weight. A 60-pound child can carry a maximum backpack weight of 5 lbs. Those who weigh between 60 to 75 pounds can carry 10 pounds, those who weigh 100 pounds can carry 15 lbs., 125 lbs. can take 18 lbs., 150 lbs. with 20 lbs. and 200 lbs. with 25 lbs.

What is the ideal backpack? Pizarro said that in looking for a backpack, this must be lightweight because “we don’t carry more weight than we have to.” It must have wide padded straps so that these distribute the load over the shoulders and make things more comfortable. Padded back to make things more comfy as well, separate compartments to keep things neat and organized. It is ideal for backpacks to have waist straps to transfer the load to the hips. A strap between two shoulder straps is a good feature because it helps to prevent slouching.

If your child slouches or simply cannot stand upright from carrying a backpack to school, it’s time you look again – he is no soldier fighting militants or a mountaineer bringing provisions. That backpack may just have to be unloaded.

(Next week: Folded Muscles – How Much Pain Can You Take?)