Those were the days where schools had individual lockers for every kid. They were the best place to socialize in the school too, and they allowed books to be stored in those lockers. Those good old days are gone, maybe because the drugs, addictive things, and weapons made their way into them and they became the den of those things and also perhaps because building a school without lockers save a lot from construction. Therefore, the start of backpacks took place. Some parents still blame locker-less schools for these big backpacks that their kids carry.
Every weekdays morning one thing is in common to notice, is that you are going to see kids carrying backpacks lowly moving towards the school-bus or the school looking like a tortoise. The question is how much weight they carry and how much pressure they are putting on their growing spines every day.
Backpacks Background
Spines are made of 33 bones; they are called vertebrae. In between each vertebra, there are discs, which act as shock absorbers. Now, what happens is that when a big load like a heavy backpack is placed on the back, that will make a backside movement of the child, and the child will push himself forward to adjust with that back movement. This sudden backside and front side movement will make the vertebrae get compressed unnaturally. Let’s check what backpacks can do:
- Kids who wear a backpack on one side of the shoulder are putting extra weight on one side of the body and adjusting it by leaning to one side. This can result in straining their shoulders and neck and may gradually develop upper and lower back pain.
- Kids who wear narrow, tight straps which will interfere with normal blood flow. Slowly this can develop into numbness and tingling and also arms and hands weakness.
- Kids having large backpacks have chances of hurting others while turning around.
Spotting heavy load
As a parent, you should know and take care of your kid not carrying heavy loads. You should check your kid as follows:
- Making sounds like grunts while putting the backpack on or off.
- Complaining about fingers falling asleep.
- Visible red marks on their shoulders.
- Having shoulder or neck ache.
- Unusual posture while walking with a backpack.
- Headaches.
Nowadays, backpacks are designed such that it doesn’t cause harm to your kids while they carry them. Some good companies like Backpack CND scientifically examine every aspect of the backpack such that your kid is always safe using their backpack.