Backpack Safety: Helping Your Kids Manage Heavy Backpacks
If you notice school going kids nowadays, you’ll see that they carry heavy backpacks on the shoulders.
Some of the kids literally struggle to walk with the heavy backpack and it can be a source of injuries to the child’s back, spine or neck.
Kids usually stuff their bags with all their books, notebooks and stationery items, making the bag very heavy.
Research all over the world has shown that many children carry backpacks, the weight of which is almost 10-15% of the body weight of the kid.
This is actually an alarming weight that is being carried by your child. Here are some of the problems that are caused by heavy backpacks, with solutions to the same:
• Many children take the backpacks on a single shoulder as that makes them look smart. However, this can cause grave injuries as the whole weight comes to a single side of the body.
There are high chances of shoulder and neck straining or there can be injuries to the lower back and spine while trying to adjust the load on single shoulder.
Parents should suggest their children carry the backpack on both shoulders to distribute the load evenly.
• Backpacks which have narrow and tight straps should be shunned completely. When the bag becomes too heavy, the narrow strap tends to dig into the skin of the shoulder obstructing blood flow and also puts pressure on the nerves.
It might lead to various kinds of neurological problems in the arm and shoulder area. Buy backpacks that have wide and soft straps so that the straps can take the pressure and shoulders remain relieved.
• Most the ordinary backpacks lack back support causing immense pain in the back area. While purchasing backpacks ensure that there is firm back support, such as padded protection to the back. That way your kid’s back remains protected from sharp objects that are inside the bag.
• Children tend to stuff all their belongings in a single compartment of the bag. The weight shifts to a single point and becomes too heavy.
It is highly recommended for parents to purchase back packs that have many compartments and ask the child to arrange things in different partitions. This will distribute the load of the bag uniformly.
• You can often see that children fall backwards if they cannot manage their backpack. This happens because the whole weight is towards the back side and losing balance will let the kid fall towards the back.
A waist belt in the backpack can be of help. It will help in distributing the weight effectively over the rest of the body.
For quality backpacks, you can choose from a large selection on Firstcry.com.
You must be logged in to post a comment.