Doctors Warn Parents How Heavy Backpacks Could Ruin Their Children's Future

Share This:

Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest Linkedin

Each school year millions of children walk to, from, and around school carrying backpacks filled with books and materials.

Parents should be aware that overly stressing the back with a heavy backpack could cause back pain in their children.

The fact that there's a lot of lessons and extra curricular activities that your kids need to cope i school, they may feel like they have the weight of the world on their shoulders. Literally, they do. The the load he or she is lugging around could be huge and potentially dangerous.

One Facebook post of a certain Zahir Ali became a crucial topic online and gathered a lot of views about childrens having loaded back packs.

According to Zahir, the post which accompanied by a couple of photos of her nephew was a warning and eye-opener to parents who let their kids carry heavy bags to school everyday.

She said that her nephew who is a primary school student started to complain terrible back pains and upon visiting the doctor, they found out that his spine had already bended abnormally. The reason he had to undergo major surgery to rectify the problem.

School backpacks are a staple, holding all the essentials kids need to make it through the day. But when the backpack starts to weigh your child down, it could cause long-term damage.

Among the risks described by Dr. Pierre D’Hemecourt, a sports medicine specialist at Children’s Hospital Boston, are stress fractures in the back, inflammation of growth cartilage, back and neck strain, and nerve damage in the neck and shoulders.

Packing and wearing a backpack properly can lessen the potential for harm; however, backpacks that exceed the recommended weight can cause serious injury. A student’s backpack should not weigh more than 15 percent of his body weight, according to the American Occupational Therapy Association.