Seeing kids with heavy school bags on the roads is not unusual. They are seen lugging around every morning with bags laden with heavy materials such as books, sports equipment, or musical instruments. Many a time, their bags are stuffed with gym or dance uniforms too.
As kids carry these substantial loads, it may trigger back pain. If ignored, it may lead to serious health concerns including deformity of the spine.
How Are Kids Affected By Heavy School Bags?
Studies have shown that if a child’s school bag weighs 10% more than the child’s body weight, it may cause pain in the lower back, shoulders, and hands.
Often, parents overlook the pain if kids complain. They assume that the pain could be due to the wrong posture, or due to inactive lifestyle, or doing deskbound studies for long hours.
Heavy school bags may cause discomfort to the kids and may cause strain around their necks, trunks, lower limbs, and shoulders. Over time, they may lean too forward or backward to cope with the heaviness, affecting their posture and creating stress on the spine.
Excess weight may also lead to other musculoskeletal pains. Discomfort in sitting or tiredness in the shoulders or upper back are some of the side effects of carrying a heavy bag. However, many bag manufacturing companies have recognized this problem and have developed innovative kids’ school bags like attached wheels or trolley school bags.
What Can Parents Do To Reduce Bag Weight?
Apart from making sure that your child carries appropriate weight every day, you can also make sure that you minimize the harm that a heavy bag may cause.
Below are some tips that parents can opt for a safe school backpack
Get the right backpack for your kid
While choosing the backpack for your kid, ensure it is for a child and not an adult. That way it will help to reduce the overall weight that he is carrying. For instance, the bag must be two inches above his hips.
The material of the bag should not be heavy, or else it may contribute to the weight of the bag.
Parents may take care to see that while choosing the bag its form and comfort must take precedence over glamour.
Keep books at home
Going through the timetable and sorting out the books daily helps to reduce a significant amount of bag weight. Parents can encourage their kids to arrange their books daily and take only the books, which are required at school.
For instance, your child can carry only one textbook instead of two. Some subjects have two books. However, your child must know which topic will be covered for the day and accordingly, your child can choose between the two books.
Choose bags with two straps
Select a bag with two straps rather than one as it may cause a lot of strain on the shoulders if routinely carried.
A broad thick strap is more desirable. Tight, narrow straps may affect nerves and circulation which may set off tingling, numbness, and weakness in arms and hands.
Parents can adjust the straps of the bag so that the thick part rests on the shoulders to provide a cushioning effect.
While purchasing the bag, parents can see to it that the straps are evenly paced so that they do not thrust on the child’s shoulders unnecessarily.
Waist-clip is desirable
A waist-clip in the bag is preferable as it helps to position the bag correctly to the child’s back.
Your child will avoid leaning backward or forward while carrying the bag.
Waist clips help to maintain a correct posture. It will help to keep the bag close to your child’s back.
Various compartments in the bag
Multiple compartments in the bag help to distribute the weight evenly.
Parents can teach their kids to use the compartments in the bag to keep various things such as stationery items, notebooks, books, and lunch boxes. That way, it may help your child to locate things easily and make the bag lighter.
Heavier books closer to the back
You can balance the weight by moving around the contents of the bag. Place heavier books closer to your child’s back. That way, the weight will not be focused on the shoulders.
Also, when your child is running or swinging around, the centrifugal force of the bag will not cause a loss of balance or a fall.
Clean up clutter
You can tell your child to avoid stacking unnecessary things just because his bag can hold them. All the mess that your child has gathered such as bits of paper, broken pencils, etc can be cleared out once a week.
You can encourage your child to use pouches instead of boxes for keeping his stationery like pens, pencils, or erasers to lessen the weight.
Find solutions to lighten the load
Kids have the habit of carrying the bag on one side till they are tired and then shift to the other side. The uneven weight distribution can bend the backbone sideward and incline your child’s body.
You can tell your child to carry the bag on both sides of the shoulders.
You can also teach your child to put down the bag while waiting for the bus, or during assembly to lighten the load.
So, the next time when your child complains about the load, do not ignore it. You just have to correct the problems and the solutions are quite easy as you can see from the above tips!
