It should not exceed 10-15% of the student’s body weight – this is the recommendation of the Ministry of Health on the maximum load of the school backpack. But the rule is often broken. And children and teenagers find themselves carrying bulky backpacks and satchels daily, which can reach 10 kilos or even more.
Parents have always been concerned about this topic: Will too much weight hurt your back? And what could it entail? Notwithstanding the fact that we know with certainty that a load higher than that indicated is not able to cause real back diseases, such as scoliosis and kyphosis, teachers, parents and students can do a lot to reduce the side effects associated with overload. .
Backpack: it is not the cause of disease
The mandatory premise is that the link between heavy books and clinically relevant back problems is not proven. “According to current knowledge, the backpack does not appear to be either the cause or the contributing cause of structural damage to the spine and diseases such as scoliosis and kyphosis, which, moreover, have a known family predisposition”, underlines Renato Maria Toniolo, Head of the UOC of Traumatology at the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital and Vice President of the Italian Society of Pediatric Orthopedics and Traumatology (Sitop, affiliated with Siot).
“The weight, if excessive or poorly managed, can in some cases contribute to the acquisition of incorrect postures and, in less common situations, to symptoms such as lumbar or back pain”. While overloading itself is unlikely to cause pain, symptoms should never be underestimated. “Back pain in children or young people can be a sign of a pre-existing problem and of pathologies in some cases also relevant”, explains Toniolo, “so it is good not to let a lot of time pass and ask a doctor for a consultation”.
Too much weight, how to do it
The excessive weight of the satchel can lead the student to assume incorrect postural attitudes, from modifying the physiological dorsal kyphosis to bringing the shoulders and belly forward. But by themselves, these attitudes do not lead to the development of disease. To intervene, you can avoid always carrying all the books and notebooks, use those in electronic format when preferable and ask teachers for help in managing the materials, to comply with the recommendations of the authorities and to sensitize them to the subject.
In addition to reducing weight, it is also important how the bag is chosen and how the boy wears it. “In this sense it is important to buy a suitable backpack, not to fill it too much and put it on correctly”, comments Toniolo, “for example a product that already weighs too much when empty, that does not have a support in the back or that has very thin straps, it is not an optimal option. ” Yes, on the other hand, also to bags with wheels and trolleys, often not loved by students, of which more and more colorful and imaginative versions are available today.
How to distribute the weights in the backpack
The second step concerns the preparation of the backpack. “The heavier books must be inserted first, in the rear part, in contact with the back”, specifies the expert, “and the lighter materials gradually in the outer part. Doing the opposite, in fact, causes an overload of the muscles dorsal which leads to arching the back “. Finally, the way you hold the bag also matters. “The child or young person must rest the backpack on both shoulders, appropriately adjusting the shoulder straps”, adds Toniolo, “and possibly also using the belt on the front to unload the weight, but without over-tightening”.
From the desk to the overweight
Incorrect postures can also be linked to other factors, such as the position of the student on the desk and the presence of overweight or obesity. “As regards the study table – explains the expert – for the very young it is not essential to have ergonomic chairs of the latest generation but to pay attention to the correct relationship between the height of the chair and the table, which varies in the different ages of the development”.
Overweight, then, can cause and reinforce the improper postural attitude of the boy, who adjusts to the inadequate but more comfortable position to manage the excess pounds. “In this sense, in addition to a healthy diet, motor and sports activities are helpful for both overweight and a hunched back, and in general they are very effective in correcting posture even in normal-weight children”, concludes Toniolo.
The importance of physical activity
“Education on the value of sport, both for health and on a social level, must be passed on to children from an early age”. Recalling that, according to WHO guidelines, children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 must practice at least 60 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity and exercises to strengthen the musculoskeletal system at least 3 times a week.
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