Unit 4
The Anti-Hunchback Backpack
Students and backpacks are inseparable. Yet a great number of students experience back, shoulder and neck pain, even tingling in their arms and hands because of those backpacks. An overweight pack causes a strain between the shoulder and back muscles. This strain pulls on the collar bone and eventually pinches the nerves between the collar bone and first rib. The result? Numbness and tingling in the hands. Scary stuff, indeed.
Two things are consistent with student back pain: the weight of their backpack and the amount of time a student wears it.
Ideally, pack weight should not exceed 10 to 15 percent of body weight.
Many well-designed backpacks have wide shoulder straps which help absorb the load. Waist and chest straps help keep the backpack load near the body. This way the hips and back carry the load, maintaining a balance.
It’s natural to sling a pack off one shoulder or have it hang down the back but the danger is a hunched-over walk, bad posture and a pain in the neck, shoulder and back, even scoliosis, an excessive curvature of the spine.
This video features Dr. Dan Yaron who will offer advice on choosing a well-designed backpack as well as how to wear one to eliminate many of these backpack problems.
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