School will be starting soon, and kids will be going to and from school with heavy backpacks. Chronic neck and back pain are becoming more common in children.
Myra Stewart, physical therapist in the outpatient physical therapy clinic at Henry Mayo Fitness and Health, shares her best advice on how to help our children prevent injuries as they get ready to join sports teams and bike or skate board to school with those heavy backpacks.
Selected Podcast
Are Your Children Carrying Heavy Backpacks? Tips for Injury Prevention as They Head Back to School
Featured Speaker:
Myra Stewart, DPT
Myra Stewart is a physical therapist in the outpatient physical therapy clinic at Henry Mayo Fitness and Health. She holds a doctorate degree in physical therapy. Transcription:
Melanie Cole: Each year, millions of children walk to and from and around school carrying these heavy backpacks. If you're a parent, you’ve seen these heavy backpacks on kids and you’ve said why are these so heavy and is that really healthy for my child? We’re discussing today with Myra Stewart. She's a physical therapist in the outpatient physical therapy clinic at Henry Mayo Fitness and Health. Welcome to the show. What do you see? Let's start here as some of the most common injuries at the start of the school year and what's going on with the backpacks.
Myra Stewart, DPT: One of the things we see is a lot of chronic low back pain in children, which really should not be happening. A big part of that is because the backpacks are actually much too heavy for the child. The average weight for a backpack should only be about 10% to 15% of a child’s body weight. That means if a child is 100 pounds, it should only be about 10 to 15 pounds at the max for that individual.
Melanie: We look at these backpacks and yes there are still books involved which not that many big heavy books, but those Chromebooks that they carry and then they've got binders and organizers and all of these things pulling them down, and yet kids will not use a wheelie backpack. I don't know one kid that's willing to roll a backpack around. What are we supposed to do?
Myra: One of the things you want to look at in a backpack is something that's ergonomic for that child. You want to make sure that you choose a backpack that's actually very lightweight, that has two padded wide straps on it, you don't want the backpack with that single strap and you also want to make sure the back itself is padded. If your child willing, you want one of the waist belts that can clip and have the backpack have multiple compartments so they can disturb all of the weight for the heavy books and everything that is in the backpack. The other thing is that you want the heaviest books closest to the child’s body. That will help prevent some of that low back pain and issues with the backpack, but I know it is a challenge and they don’t want to use the rolling backpacks.
Melanie: They don’t, but that’s good advice about putting the heaviest books and the densest things closer to the child’s back. That’s really good advice for parents to know, although backpacks get pretty messy during the school year. When you are working with children and you're seeing low back pain in kids because of their backpacks, what do you tell the kids themselves?
Myra: Some of the things that we can recommend is I know some of the schools offer eBooks, the electronic books, so it might be that if they have a capability that they would be able to have an iPad or it depends on the school, sometimes they offer this, and they can actually bring the books in on an electronic device versions actually carrying those heavy bookbags around and then they can choose to leave the books at home. That might be an option. The other option is making sure you change your books out in between classes. Don’t carry your entire days’ books with you all day long. Don’t take unnecessary things to school. I know a lot of kids love to take their video games or whatever else they have with them, but leave that at home. Another thing would be homework planning. Don’t leave all of your homework to do at one night. Make sure you do it throughout the week. That way, it’s not necessary for you to bring every single book home with you on Friday.
Melanie: Absolutely true. Not only are the kids carrying these backpacks, which are way too heavy and they bend all forward, which is going to cause postural problems in them in the future, what about things like bikes and skateboards and again not always easy to get them to wear helmets, but you're a physical therapist. Tell their parents what you want them to know about the safety aspect of all of this.
Myra: They absolutely have to wear proper protective gear. The other thing that you want to make sure they understand is that helmets have to be fitted properly on the child. I was looking online the other day and there was something called the helmet fit test. If the parent would like to go online and look at that, there's a video on it and it instructs all the different ways to properly fit a helmet and that is just as important as wearing a helmet. I actually saw a child the other day at the park who didn't even have the straps connected underneath his helmet, so if he were to fall, there would be no reason to even wear the helmet. It's just going to fall off. The other thing you want to make sure you have the proper wrist guard, elbow and knee pads and then, of course, mouth guards.
Melanie: So important. Now, as school is getting ramped up, we’re talking about safety, skateboards and bikes and backpacks. Now there's also sports season and some of them are actually starting to ramp up now. How important are pre-participation physicals and what do you want parents to know about checking with their physician before their kids start a sport?
Myra: You definitely want to have a physical before starting any sport, and even if your child has played before, having a physical done is an excellent idea. Another thing you really want to make sure you do is before you even start a sport, talk to the coach or the team and make sure they understand what medical conditions that child has. If the child has asthma, they should have an inhaler with them at all times. Make sure you bring all these medications, have emergency contacts available, all of those things should be provided to the coaches and they should be aware of that child’s history.
Melanie: What do you want them to know about ending this summer, getting in shape for that sport, hydration in the summer and stretching and really getting them ready so they don’t get an injury when they just start the sport that’s in the fall?
Myra: When you want to go back to sports, understand that you're not going to go back at the same level that you ended the season on. You want to do a proper warmup and stretch before every single practice and game. Of course, you want to stay hydrated. Make sure you drink plenty of water 30 minutes before your game and every 15-20 minutes during practice. Wear appropriate sports gear while you're working on for safety.
Melanie: Certainly, it’s important. Concussions are a big issue in the media. Wrap it up for us what you would like parents to take away from this segment as far as back to school and as a physical therapist what you see with kids as far as chronic injuries or sports specific injuries, all of these things that you see. Wrap it up for us with your best advice for prevention.
Myra: There was recently a statistic that said one in three children will be injured during the sports season and that is an awful lot, very concerning for me. You want to make sure that you do all of the things we’ve already discussed and if for any reason you have any concern for your child having a concussion, you need to immediately take that child out of play. Any kind of injury, not just a concussion, but concussions are huge in the media and it is very disconcerting. If your child has any signs or symptoms like being dazed, confused, stated that they got their bell rung while they're in play, anything like that, immediately take them out. Henry Mayo does offer at the fitness center. It’s a free sports injury screening clinic and if your child has been injured in sports, we would love to see you, we can give recommendations and advice on how to help with that injury and recover properly. The phone number here at the fitness center is 661-200-1550 and we do make appointments for that. It's a 30-minute free sports injury screening clinic for any child.
Melanie: Fantastic. I'm so glad that you put that in there as a free sports prevention type assessment for children before they start school. Can you give the number for us one more time?
Myra: The number for the Henry Mayo outpatient physical therapy at the fitness center would be 661-200-1550.
Melanie: Thank you so much for being with us today and sharing your expertise. What great information for parents to hear. You're listening to It’s Your Health Radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. For more information, please visit henrymayo.com. That’s henrymayo.com. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for tuning in.
Melanie Cole: Each year, millions of children walk to and from and around school carrying these heavy backpacks. If you're a parent, you’ve seen these heavy backpacks on kids and you’ve said why are these so heavy and is that really healthy for my child? We’re discussing today with Myra Stewart. She's a physical therapist in the outpatient physical therapy clinic at Henry Mayo Fitness and Health. Welcome to the show. What do you see? Let's start here as some of the most common injuries at the start of the school year and what's going on with the backpacks.
Myra Stewart, DPT: One of the things we see is a lot of chronic low back pain in children, which really should not be happening. A big part of that is because the backpacks are actually much too heavy for the child. The average weight for a backpack should only be about 10% to 15% of a child’s body weight. That means if a child is 100 pounds, it should only be about 10 to 15 pounds at the max for that individual.
Melanie: We look at these backpacks and yes there are still books involved which not that many big heavy books, but those Chromebooks that they carry and then they've got binders and organizers and all of these things pulling them down, and yet kids will not use a wheelie backpack. I don't know one kid that's willing to roll a backpack around. What are we supposed to do?
Myra: One of the things you want to look at in a backpack is something that's ergonomic for that child. You want to make sure that you choose a backpack that's actually very lightweight, that has two padded wide straps on it, you don't want the backpack with that single strap and you also want to make sure the back itself is padded. If your child willing, you want one of the waist belts that can clip and have the backpack have multiple compartments so they can disturb all of the weight for the heavy books and everything that is in the backpack. The other thing is that you want the heaviest books closest to the child’s body. That will help prevent some of that low back pain and issues with the backpack, but I know it is a challenge and they don’t want to use the rolling backpacks.
Melanie: They don’t, but that’s good advice about putting the heaviest books and the densest things closer to the child’s back. That’s really good advice for parents to know, although backpacks get pretty messy during the school year. When you are working with children and you're seeing low back pain in kids because of their backpacks, what do you tell the kids themselves?
Myra: Some of the things that we can recommend is I know some of the schools offer eBooks, the electronic books, so it might be that if they have a capability that they would be able to have an iPad or it depends on the school, sometimes they offer this, and they can actually bring the books in on an electronic device versions actually carrying those heavy bookbags around and then they can choose to leave the books at home. That might be an option. The other option is making sure you change your books out in between classes. Don’t carry your entire days’ books with you all day long. Don’t take unnecessary things to school. I know a lot of kids love to take their video games or whatever else they have with them, but leave that at home. Another thing would be homework planning. Don’t leave all of your homework to do at one night. Make sure you do it throughout the week. That way, it’s not necessary for you to bring every single book home with you on Friday.
Melanie: Absolutely true. Not only are the kids carrying these backpacks, which are way too heavy and they bend all forward, which is going to cause postural problems in them in the future, what about things like bikes and skateboards and again not always easy to get them to wear helmets, but you're a physical therapist. Tell their parents what you want them to know about the safety aspect of all of this.
Myra: They absolutely have to wear proper protective gear. The other thing that you want to make sure they understand is that helmets have to be fitted properly on the child. I was looking online the other day and there was something called the helmet fit test. If the parent would like to go online and look at that, there's a video on it and it instructs all the different ways to properly fit a helmet and that is just as important as wearing a helmet. I actually saw a child the other day at the park who didn't even have the straps connected underneath his helmet, so if he were to fall, there would be no reason to even wear the helmet. It's just going to fall off. The other thing you want to make sure you have the proper wrist guard, elbow and knee pads and then, of course, mouth guards.
Melanie: So important. Now, as school is getting ramped up, we’re talking about safety, skateboards and bikes and backpacks. Now there's also sports season and some of them are actually starting to ramp up now. How important are pre-participation physicals and what do you want parents to know about checking with their physician before their kids start a sport?
Myra: You definitely want to have a physical before starting any sport, and even if your child has played before, having a physical done is an excellent idea. Another thing you really want to make sure you do is before you even start a sport, talk to the coach or the team and make sure they understand what medical conditions that child has. If the child has asthma, they should have an inhaler with them at all times. Make sure you bring all these medications, have emergency contacts available, all of those things should be provided to the coaches and they should be aware of that child’s history.
Melanie: What do you want them to know about ending this summer, getting in shape for that sport, hydration in the summer and stretching and really getting them ready so they don’t get an injury when they just start the sport that’s in the fall?
Myra: When you want to go back to sports, understand that you're not going to go back at the same level that you ended the season on. You want to do a proper warmup and stretch before every single practice and game. Of course, you want to stay hydrated. Make sure you drink plenty of water 30 minutes before your game and every 15-20 minutes during practice. Wear appropriate sports gear while you're working on for safety.
Melanie: Certainly, it’s important. Concussions are a big issue in the media. Wrap it up for us what you would like parents to take away from this segment as far as back to school and as a physical therapist what you see with kids as far as chronic injuries or sports specific injuries, all of these things that you see. Wrap it up for us with your best advice for prevention.
Myra: There was recently a statistic that said one in three children will be injured during the sports season and that is an awful lot, very concerning for me. You want to make sure that you do all of the things we’ve already discussed and if for any reason you have any concern for your child having a concussion, you need to immediately take that child out of play. Any kind of injury, not just a concussion, but concussions are huge in the media and it is very disconcerting. If your child has any signs or symptoms like being dazed, confused, stated that they got their bell rung while they're in play, anything like that, immediately take them out. Henry Mayo does offer at the fitness center. It’s a free sports injury screening clinic and if your child has been injured in sports, we would love to see you, we can give recommendations and advice on how to help with that injury and recover properly. The phone number here at the fitness center is 661-200-1550 and we do make appointments for that. It's a 30-minute free sports injury screening clinic for any child.
Melanie: Fantastic. I'm so glad that you put that in there as a free sports prevention type assessment for children before they start school. Can you give the number for us one more time?
Myra: The number for the Henry Mayo outpatient physical therapy at the fitness center would be 661-200-1550.
Melanie: Thank you so much for being with us today and sharing your expertise. What great information for parents to hear. You're listening to It’s Your Health Radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. For more information, please visit henrymayo.com. That’s henrymayo.com. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for tuning in.