Students study backpack safety
By Staff
Melissa Dozier-Cason FCT staff writer
Fourth graders at Russellville Elementary School assembled Wednesday morning to learn about backpack safety.
Approximately 180 students met in the school gym to be evaluated by staff members of Encore Rehabilitation, Inc. for backpack safety.
Backpacks should only weigh 15% or less of the student's total body weight. They only found that approximately 30 percent of the students evaluated were over this limit, Encore's Wes Richardson said.
Staff members of Encore also inspected the way the students carried their backpacks on their shoulders and gave them instruction to help prevent injury. Staff members also evaluated each student's strength, and a t-shirt was given to the strongest boy and girl for each group. Information handouts were sent home to parents, educating them on how to protect their children from back, neck and should pain associated with backpack usage.
"The heaviest books should be closest to the student's body, and the lightest [books] should be away from the student's body." Richardson said.
The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) designated Sept. 20th as National School Backpack Awareness Day to promote backpack safety, Richardson said.
With National School Backpack Awareness Day in September, Encore Rehabilitation Inc has spent time with area school helping to promote awareness on backpack safety, Richardson said.
According to the AOTA website, more that 40 million students in the U.S. carry backpacks, and there were more than 70,000 emergency room in 2001 related to backpacks and book bags. Almost half of those injuries occurred in children ages five to 14.
In one study of American students, six out of 10 students, ages 9 to 20, reported chronic back pain related to heavy backpacks. Among those who carried the recommended weight, only two of the 10 reported pain.
In a related study, about the effectiveness of backpack awareness, eight of 10 middle school students who changed how the loaded and wore their backpacks reported less pain and strain in their backs, necks and shoulders, according to the AOTA.
