Child Health: The Impact of Heavy Backpacks

We've heard it for years. Heavy backpacks are damaging our kids' spines. Pediatricians and chiropractors have been saying this for years. But if you need true evidence, you need only look back to a study done in 2010. American scientists scanned eight children using an MRI. Each child was scanned several times, first with an empty backpack, then bearing loads of nine, eighteen, and twenty-six pounds in the backpack. Backpacks were worn using both shoulder straps during every scan.

There were some interesting results that more than reinforced the idea that we're loading up our children past what's healthy. As the weight increased, the spinal discs responsible for absorbing shock slowly became squashed and were unable to do their job. In addition, the lower spine became more likely to curve to one side in an effort to accommodate the increased weight. Not to mention the fact that the children were in more pain with the heavier loads.

Of the eight children scanned, four of them showed the beginnings of significant curvature of the spine when wearing the eighteen-pound backpack. With this in mind, you should never load your child's backpack with more than ten to fifteen percent of his or her body weight. This is, of course, dependent on the age of the child, but don't stray from these figures too much.

So before you send your kids off to school tomorrow, grab their packs and throw them on the scale. Are they too heavy? If so, take steps to reduce the impact of a heavy backpack on your child's health.