Parents are all
excited to see their children BACK to school. Parents are all busy buying bags,
and school supplies for their kids.
Now, take note of
the word "BACK". Did I just give the word too much emphasis?
Well, to give you
an idea why I highlighted the word "Back", it's because children
nowadays are burden with their backpacks as if they are carrying the world on
their shoulder, that once upon a time, only commando's and soldiers carried the
heavy, and fully loaded backpack every day.
Today's generation,
however, every kid carried an oversized and heavy load backpack everyday going
to school loaded with their lunch box, textbooks, notebooks, laptops, clothes
for school activities and other scholastic materials the teacher's requirements
for children to bring, school bags are believed to contribute to bone and
muscle problems to children going to school.
For this reason,
most students are getting this back pain and other back-related health issues
such as causing poor posture and spine related-problem according to study
conducted by the health researcher experts. That is why many health experts
have warned parents about buying a wrong school backpack that might lead to
back health issues which the students could carry into their adulthood.
Students wrong postures mean the children carried a backpack with the amount of
weight greater than their body weight and it's alarming because carrying an
overload backpack, the children are putting their health at risk.
Health experts have
given guidelines to follow on how to choose the best backpack for kids. Experts
says: student backpacks should not weight more than 5 t0 10 percent of children
body weight. Still, many parents and student do not follow these health
experts' recommendations and interventions to protect the kids from carrying
excessive loads.
But wait, for those
parents who are concerned with their kid's health, here are the things you can
do:
First, be sure that
the backpack of your child fits properly, sustainably, customizability, and
ergonomic. Which means it's 4 inches lower below the waistline, lightweight,
wide padded shoulder straps and adjustable, have hip straps or waist belts to
distribute the weight of the bag proportionally. According to a study: When a
child carried a heavy backpack, the tendency will hump their shoulders forward
which can stretch the muscles and can pain and stress between their shoulder
blades. If it gets serious, it may lead to scoliosis. Therefore, it is a must
to check your child backpack to ensure the child is not carrying unnecessary
school books and if the student can leave some of the books at home or can
leave it in a locker.
