MIDVALE, Utah — If your child comes home with a headache, it may not have anything to do with school work.
It could be related to the weight they carry on their shoulders in their backpacks.
Students sometimes carry around a lot of baggage on their backs. And if it's too much or not carried properly, it all goes to their heads.
Chiropractor Michael Weinberger with NuSpine has some advice to help kids carry the weight properly.
“They get headaches, and to avoid that, wear it the way it was designed to be worn as on this one, you have a little clip that goes around the front of the kids,” Weinberger said.
Kids wear their backpacks incorrectly in a variety of different ways. They'll wear backpacks slung over one shoulder. This weighs them down on one side. So they have to use their bodies to pull the weight the other way.
“And if young students don't change their ways, it can cause problems as they age,” Weinberger said. “These things can lead to chronic back pain as an adult too. So getting it right is more important than you may think.”
There's a better way to do it. With the appropriate size backpack, keeping it close to the body and keeping all of that dead space away.
“We have all of the straps tuned in so this space in between the backpack and her is very minimal. We want to minimize that,” Weinberger said. “The space in front, this helps distribute the weight perfectly.”
And even if it is worn right, sometimes a backpack is just too heavy.
So what's the answer?
If you can't lighten the load, try getting a set of rollers to push or pull the backpack.
