It is back to school season and sending your kids back to school with a good backpack can be a big help for them to have a good school year. This also will apply to those who are getting backpacks for hiking, backpacking, etc. Getting the right backpack will help kids continue to grow and develop without the concern of excess weight or pain slowing them down. First off, the recommended weight of your child’s backpack should be about 10% of their body weight. For example, a 75-pound child should have a bag weighing between 5-10 pounds would be ideal. Kids backpacks these days are loading with so many things and some of that doesn’t always need to be there. Try and move things around, take out items not needed for the day, and throw away unneeded items as the school year progresses. This one is probably the hardest part because it is not always possible or up to anyone but the teachers or school projects going on at the time. The second part is something that you have complete control over. When you purchase a backpack, make sure it has nice big and padded straps that go over the shoulders. The bigger the straps, the more weight is distributed over the whole shoulders and the padding goes without saying will help with the straps digging into the shoulders, which happens to be a common shoulder injury area and nerves run through. Another part of backpack health is using both straps when wearing the backpack instead of caring it on one side or down in your hand. The bottom of the backpack should sit at about your waistline. The further it goes below the waistline, the more likely it will pull you back, into back extension, and could cause more issues, especially if you have a heavier backpack. This puts more load on the back of the spine, which for kids is still developing and more prone to injury. This area also is not meant to hold weight for extended periods of time and isn’t the best in any population. So, there are a few factors that you as a parent or user have on wearing a backpack, excluding some of the weight concerns, and can make a big impact on the load distribution that is placed on the body wearing the backpack. When you start talking about going on backpacking trips, there are some tips here that don’t apply such as weight. However, things such as big straps that are padded and keeping that backpack higher is going to be very helpful in keeping you comfortable for your trip. Don’t forget to use your chest and waist strap that most backpacks have these days to help support the weight.
Bring in your backpack today if you have questions for a free backpack assessment.
Tahoe’s Premiere Sports Chiropractor
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