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Tripti, my 16-year-old daughter suffers from back pain--and she is not alone in this. Many of her classmates also complain of similar problem. Back pain and related medical problems are becoming common among our teenagers. According to a study, up to 60 percent of children will experience back pain by the time they reach the age of 18.

Doctors believe one reason for the rising incidence of back pain among youth may be the modern-day book bag--the backpack. Today a normal school or college-goer carries his or her world in a backpack, books, notebooks, lunch, floppies, change of clothes for and other odds and ends.

Typically a youngster carries around 10 to 12 kilograms in his/her backpack. Many of them agree that it is too heavy a load but are reluctant to forego the convenience offered by the backpack. According to American Chiropractic Association (ACA) and the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) guidelines, students should carry no more than 10 percent of their body weight in a backpack.

Backpacks slung casually over one shoulder have today become fashionable but this posture puts further stress on back and spinal cord of the backpack carrier. So we have children who complain of backaches, fatigue and (physical) stress.

To avoid these problems it is important that you choose the right size backpack. It should not be wider or longer than the child's torso. (Torso implies the bony bump at the base of the neck down to the top of the hips.)

The maximum weight of the packed backpack should not exceed 10 percent of your body weight. The thumb rule in this case is that you are able to carry the pack comfortably in your arms for a few minutes.

If the backpack forces the wearer to move forward to carry, it's overloaded. Backpack wearers should walk normally, with their shoulders down and back and their stomach muscles tightened.

Ensure that the backpack is buckled to the child's waist by the belts at its base. This helps distribute the weight of the backpack to the lower part of the child's body. This way the hips and legs also bear some portion of the weight.

The contents of the backpack should be properly packed. Things like scissors, geometry sets and knives can poke through the backpack and injure the child. Such material should be packed in a safe package.

To overcome these problems, the schools can help a lot. Additional textbooks/notebooks can be purchased so that the students have one set for the classroom and one for the home. They need not carry the home set to school everyday. Some schools have provided lockers to students, where they can store their knick-knacks and avoid carting them to school everyday.

Some years back there was much hue and cry raised in the Indian Parliament about the load of textbooks that our young children have to carry to schools. Lot of discussion went into how to reduce the burden on the young shoulders. It doesn't appear that anything came out of it. Still one can see young ones bending down with the load of school bags.

Several orthopaedic surgeons have recommended the following steps for safe usage of backpacks:

• A backpack's weight should not exceed 10-15 percent of your body weight.
• Use a hip-strap for heavier weights.
• The backpack should have two adjustable, padded, wide straps to equalise the weight and a padded back.
• Use both the straps of the backpack, suitably tightened to hold the pack at least two inches above the waist.
• Condition the back muscles by doing appropriate exercises.
• Place the heaviest items close to the back.
• Backpack should be neatly packed and items should be properly placed.
• Suggest to your school to provide lockers to keep your things in school.
• Use backpacks with wheels.
• In case you experience any physical discomfort while using a backpack or otherwise, don't ignore it. Consult an orthopaedist.

The Indian scene is a little hazy as far as such problems are concerned. Parents, schools, doctors and policy makers ought to sit down and work out ways and means to reduce the burden on the young shoulders so that they develop in a healthy way to shoulder the responsibilities of tomorrow.

Anoop Khanna
                    Asst. Manager (PR)

For further details contact:
Loss Prevention Association of India Ltd., (LPA)
Seethakathi Chambers, ( 4th Floor)
688, Anna Salai, Chennai - 600 006.
Phone : 8524648, 8523920.
Fax: 8523746.

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