We’ve all seen young children walking down our streets, carrying backpacks that appear to be as big as they are. This seemed to be the trend for a while (possibly trying to fit in with the whole baggy clothing look), but now we know that using a backpack properly is very important for your health. Keeping your back injury-free and using your postural muscles properly is essential to being a healthy, active young person. Dr. Stacy Irvine shares her tips to help you find the right backpack, and ways to use it properly:

1. A backpack should fit properly on your back, sitting between your shoulders and your hips and resting as close to your back as possible. There should not be a big space between the backpack and your lower back.
2. Find a backpack with wide padded shoulder straps. This will make the load less stressful on your shoulders and will distribute the weight over a wider area. Adding a strap around your waist is even better (I realize most teenagers will NEVER go for the waist strap, but it is worth a try).
3. A backpack should not weigh more than 10 – 15% of your total body weight, closer to 10% for younger children and 15% for high school age. If you are not sure how to figure this out, use a bathroom scale. If possible, involve your children in this investigation, since they are often the ones packing up their stuff into their backpacks as you rush out the door. It will be helpful for them to see what items will add to the weight of their packs.
4. When you are distributing your items in your backpack, try to pack the heaviest things closest to your body. This will usually be textbooks. Try to place these things in the inside pocket and place the lighter items (such as lunches or gym clothes) in the outside pockets.
5. Show your children how to always keep their packs close to their body when putting them on or taking them off.  The further the pack moves away from your body, the more stress it will put on your muscles and ligaments. This also includes swinging your pack around as a makeshift weapon (as I have seen my boys do!). It is also important to teach children to never grab someone by their backpack when they are running or playing, or even walking down the hallways of school.
6. Help your children develop a pattern of emptying their backpacks regularly. I find that by the end of the week, they have often accumulated a few “extra” items that do not need to be in there, such as leftover lunch food and sweaty gym clothes. You could bring out the bathroom scale again to show them how much these extra items weigh and that could help them understand why we need to clean out our backpacks regularly.

Courtesy Dr. Stacy Irvine

www.totum.ca

@DrStacyIrvine