30/01/2026
BACK TO SCHOOL! ๐ฉโ๐ซ ๐ฅณ
Before you load up the backpack next week, check out our blog! ๐๐ป
Backpacks have long been a necessity for most of us attending school as children. Like most everyday activities, we barely give it a second thought. But what benefits would a properly fitted backpack, with the right support straps have? And conversely, how much is a poorly fitted backpack with inadequate support fixings negatively impacting our spine?
BACKPACKS AND SCHOOL
The techno-age we currently live in should have eliminated heavy backpack loads in schoolchildren โ laptops have begun to replace textbooks to some degree, but in the clinic we still see an alarming amount of parents complain (with good reason) about the weight of their childโs backpack. In most developed countries, students begin schooling at approximately 5yrs and finish high school around 18yrs. This means that they are carrying a load 5 days a week for over a decade, during the time where their physical development is at its greatest.
Backpack loads of school students during school days have been suggested to range from 10% to as high as 25% of their body weight and may have a negative impact on their body. Indeed, even a cursory appraisal of current science around backpack weight vs body-mass seems to support parentsโ concerns. A literature review from Bond University QLD in 2018 found that:
โIt is apparent that the wearing of school backpacks does have significant biomechanical, physiological and discomfort impacts on the wearer, especially with loads above 10% of the studentโs body weight. Such impacts may include changes to posture (e.g., changes to spinal posture, lumbo-sacral angles, and thoracic kyphosis), gait (increases in plantar pressure during foot-ground contact and increased double support), increases in physical discomfort and muscle activity, and increases in breathing rate.โ
In essence, heavy backpacks can change the shape of your childโs spine, the way they walk, cause discomfort and make them physically work harder just to carry that load around.
Full blog article at https://yourpinnacle.com.au/blog/take-a-load-off-talking-all-things-backpack-related-as-school-returns/
