Give your back a break

Ease up on what you put in your backpack. Or use one that's kind to your spine. Your body will thank you.

By LINDSEY BROOKS
© St. Petersburg Times
published November 4, 2002

Math may not be your favorite subject, but whip out your calculators anyway because this is math you won't believe.

[Times files]

That's 21,000 pounds one kid lifts in a year just with his backpack. This nearly equals 11 tons, or six midsize cars.

According to the American Chiropractic Association and the American Occupational Therapy Association, students should carry no more than 10 percent of their body weight in their backpacks. Now multiply 0.1 by your weight and then weigh your backpack. Does your load exceed your limit?

Textbooks, projects, lunches -- it's all in there. By now most of us are used to looking like vertical turtles with our shells on our backs. And like turtles, sometimes we can't part with them. They are our homes, carried on our backs.

"Backpacks are the only thing we have to help us carry things at school," says Mojgan Hossienipour, 13 and an eighth-grader at Bay Point Middle School in St. Petersburg. "My life depends on them."

However, overloaded backpacks are contributing to increased visits to doctors offices. The problems include back and neck aches, fatigue and physical stress. The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that 4,928 emergency room visits a year result from injuries related to book bags and backpacks.

And the news gets worse: Not only are there short-term effects from schlepping around colossal packs, there are long-term effects, too. You might not even know this until 20 years after you graduate from high school. Backpack Safety America warns that spinal misalignments can occur. This often triggers a condition called vertebral subluxation, where dysfunctional areas in the spine cause restricted movement because bones are out of alignment. This adds headaches and osteoarthritis to the problem list.

Slipped discs are another occurrence; the fluid content between vertebrae are altered. And there's scoliosis, or curved spine. Do this: Picture yourself standing nice and straight at a side view. Now picture yourself with your skin peeled off and your spine showing. Imagine something sneaking up behind you with an ACME hammer in hand. Visualize him pounding on your spine until you're practically bent over doing a toe touch.

The good news is, all these bad things can be prevented, the Consumer Product Safety Commission says:

1. Choose an appropriately sized backpack. Some companies have different sizes per age group.

2. Although it's not as fashionable as a pack slung casually over one shoulder, use both straps, and if your backpack has a waist strap, tie it around your middle.

3. Eliminate as much junk from your backpack as possible. I think at one point I actually had a salami sandwich in my backpack under some notebooks for more than a week. Eighth-grader Courtney Fyvolent, 13, of John Hopkins Middle School in St. Petersburg says the weirdest thing she's had in her backpack was a worm! Even if it was for a class project, that's pretty nasty.

4. Make a habit of evenly distributing items to equalize the weight.

Addie Brainard, 9, a fourth-grader at Azalea Elementary, could definitely live without her backpack. "They're heavy, and they're annoying, and they fall off!" she complains. Addie's backpack weighs just as much as Courtney's 30-pounder, which is over the limit for a 13-year-old.

You might want to consider rolling backpacks, which would just about solve your problem. Although we all know they have drawbacks, too. They can be noisy in the hallways, and they can trip other students.

Chiropractors from Backpack Safety America recommend AIRpacks, a backpack with a support system that puts weight higher on the back and spine. It uses air-filled pouches to cushion its contact with shoulders and the lower back. ManinmalWear, a backpack with a similar support system, has an angled design to keep weight above the waist.

But if you just have to have the big name-brands, Nike released an ergonomically designed backpack this fall. BioKNX molds to your back and comes in three beetlelike models.

As silly as it may seem, there is even a correct process for lifting your backpack.

Marvin Arnsdorff, a chiropractor who founded Backpack Safety America and created Pete the Posture Parrot, recalls a proverb that describes the effect backpacks can have on young backs: "As the twig is bent, so grows the tree."

So, if you want to protect your back for the future, make sure you don't carry too much in your backpack today. Follow the tips. Even the smallest of changes adds up, and at this point, you just can't ignore the math.

Every time you lift your load, think about those 21,000 pounds you'll have lited by the end of this school year.

-- Lindsey Brooks, 13, is an eighth-grader at Bay Point Middle School in St. Petersburg.

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