More and more children are suffering from back, neck and shoulder pain.
And with some carrying up to a quarter of their body weight in school-bag loads, often slung over one shoulder, it’s not surprising.
In the UK it was recently reported that half of all children there suffer from back pain by the age of 14 and more children are developing spinal abnormalities.
In some cases they get irreversible back deformities due to, among others, the heavy weight of the bags they carry to school.
Back home, the Chiropractic Association of South Africa has warned of a “new and disturbing trend” that has emerged with a growing number of young children suffering from back pain and headaches.
Dr Gary Kirwan, a chiropractor who also works in paediatrics, says he has noticed an increased curvature in the middle back section, particularly among boys aged between 10 and 14.
“Kids are becoming a lot more sensitive compared to previous generations. I’ve noticed that a lot of kids are complaining of headaches and back pain,” he adds.
Chiropractors say children should carry school bags that weigh between five and 10 percent of their body weight, but a snap survey conducted by The Star found a Grade 1 pupil already carries up to 15 percent of her body weight on her back every day, while a grade 7 girl carries a school bag that weighs around 8kg.
Otsile Diale, 6, is in Grade 1 and weighs 22kg. While she doesn’t have many school books and textbooks at this stage of her schooling, she has aftercare and participates in extramural activities four times per week.
She carries a school book bag, a tog bag and a lunch bag, which collectively weigh around 3.3kg – which translates to 15 percent of her body weight.
In order to “encourage independence” among the girls, school regulations stipulate that parents are not allowed to carry their children’s schoolbags, so Otsile, who is petite in frame, has to struggle to balance all three bags en route to her classroom, where they have hooks to hang up their bags.
Kimberley Maringa, 12, isn’t so fortunate. Her bag weighs around 8kg and the Grade 7 pupil weighs 35kg, meaning she carries about 23 percent of her body weight on her back.
Unlike Otsile, there are no lockers or hooks at school to store her bags, so she carries all her books, which include around six soft sleeve files, work books, a dictionary, pencil case and lunch box.
“Last year she used to complain about back pain, that’s why she insisted on a bag with wheels this year,” according to Kimberley’s mother Xolisa.
But orthopaedic surgeon Dr Mark Eltringham is cautious to lay the blame on the school-bag doorstep, saying that while backache may be aggravated by heavy school bags, there are several other contributing factors to backache.
“Children can experience backache from overexertion from sports that require flexibility and heavy exertion, like gymnasts. Lifestyle also plays a major role, in that many children have become sedentary and they have bad posture because they spend a lot of time in front of TV, computer and cellphones screens,” he notes.
Eltringham says headaches are often related to bad posture.
A study conducted in the US used an MRI scanner to show the compression of the spinal discs and spinal curvature with different weights. The weights represented 10, 20 and 30 percent of the children’s weight, and it was found that as the backpack weight increased, it caused compression of the intervertebral discs and was also associated with an increased curvature of the lower spine. Pain reported by the children also increased as the weight load increased.
Kirwan advises parents to buy school bags that are size appropriate for their children and their needs, because the bigger the bag, the more likely that children are going to fill it.
“We need to educate kids that it's cool to wear their school bag over both shoulders. We have got to make the two-strap bag look cool,” says Kirwan. - The Star