The first day at school is over, everyday school life has begun. Every morning, the children hit the road – with their packed schoolbag. But, often the children carry a schoolbag that is wrongly packed or too heavy. This may lead to back pain and tensions in the neck, already in childhood.
Signs of an overload
Does your child adopt an un-natural body position when carrying the schoolbag? Does it tilt forward or back? Is it having difficulties to put on the schoolbag? All these might be first signs of an overload.
What to pay attention for when packing the schoolbag
In the evening before, take some time and pack the schoolbag together with your child. Like this, you can check what is really needed the next day – unnecessary extra weight can be avoided like that. But, it is also important to correctly distribute the weight: stow extra heavy things like books directly at the back. The front of the schoolbag is perfect for lightweight subjects like pencil cases.
Choose the proper schoolbag
It is easier to properly spread the weight with a schoolbag that has wide, padded and infinitely variable shoulder pads. The schoolbag is supposed to be in tight contact with the back, the shoulder pads should be set in the proper height. Is the school bag positioned too deep, the abdominal musculature becomes overloaded and the child has to counteract. Is the schoolbag too high on the other hand, the back musculature is especially needed to keep balance. All these things may lead to back pain and postural defects.
The proper weight of the schoolbag
To avoid a massive strain of your child’s back the unladen weight of the schoolbag should not exceed 1.2 kilograms. The total weight of the loaded schoolbag should not be more than 10 to 12 % of the child’s body weight. Naturally, the physical resilience depends on several factors like muscle strength, coordination, sense of balance, sports activity and therefore differs individually.
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Image source: @deathtostockphotos
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