Your child’s backpack posture is important for their overall health, ensuring that their back pack is fitted properly is key to achieving this. Things such as checking to make sure that their back pack isn’t heavier than 10% of their body weight, and that it lies flat above their waist will help to improve their posture.
As a new school year is well underway, it brings with itself fresh challenges and fun learning experiences for kids to explore and make. It’s important that children carry their backpacks correctly to avoid overburdening their delicate shoulders.
If your child habitually carries their school backpack on the same shoulder all the time, it will eventually cause muscle issues and joint changes on one side of their body due to a disproportionate weight distribution.
Carrying an oversized or overweight bag can lead to a recurrent strain injury of the shoulder and back muscles, making the shoulders more forward and rounded, eventually this can contribute to poor posture in kids.
The resolution lies in preventive measures that reap rewards in the long run. Ideally, a child’s backpack should be no heavier than 10% of his or her own body weight, and should lie flat above the child’s waist. It’s important to choose a bag with broad padded straps, with the width of the bag being approximate to the child’s shoulder. Also the waist straps should be used for a better weight distribution over the back muscles.
Nonetheless, it’s vital for kids to have a healthy diet for sustained energy, coupled with loads of fun exercises and ample play time.
If you’d like to find out more about how your child’s backpack may be affecting their posture you can make a booking with one of our Physios at your local practice.
This was written by Navita, Physio from the Adelaide CBD Physio practice.