Over the course of a school year, a heavy bag filled with textbooks can really hurt your back. Greatist suggests keeping your bag strapped tightly to your body to reduce the risk of injury.
Photo by TDN Channel
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Greatist has a few suggestions for reducing that risk, including packing the heaviest items at the bottom, using two straps, and making sure your back is even. More importantly, it’s about keeping that bag strapped tightly to your back:
Keep it all close to the body. Weight is just one of two factors that can lead to injury. “Postural sway” is the amount of torque and tension placed on the spine by a heavy load. Carrying a bag closer to the body will reduce the amount of sway and stress placed on the spinal muscles [9]. For concerned bag owners, a physical therapist can help find bag with ergonomics best suited to your body type.
So, when you’re packing that bag up for your long day of classes, make sure it’s not swaying all over the place. Your spinal muscles will thank you.
How to Carry a Heavy Bag Without Wreaking Yourself [Greatist]
Comments
3 responses to “Keep Your School Bag Tight Against Your Body To Reduce Injury”
This shouldn’t just be “school bags” and for school kids.
One of the best things I did for my back and shoulders was dumping the one shoulder messenger bag and going back to the backpack.
My physio is getting far less of my money now.
I don’t know how schools get away with “forcing” their students to carry huge backpacks loaded to the brim with books. One would imagine they have a duty of care to ensure that their students don’t get injured.
Solution:
1. Mount digital camera pointing down to desk at required height to ensure field of view covers two pages of text book.
2. Place text book below camera.
3. Click; turn page; repeat. You can do about 15 to 20 pages per minute.
4. Load photos on PC or tablet. Problem solved.
5. For easier access use a bulk file naming utility to name each photo Book Name Page Number.jpg. Manually append Table of Contents and Index to name of appropriate photos so you can determine required page number and then jump directly to it.
My Book 001.jpg
My Book 005 Table of Contents.jpg
My Book 521 Index.jpg
I use this technique for all my travel books and road atlases before I go on holidays.
I’m kind of disappointed. I thought this was going to be an article about the defensive capabilities of school-bags in the event of bomb blasts or vehicular accident.
back in the day… many years ago, i had to carry my bag… with all my books for homework it weighed in at 30 kgs… which was more than 50% of my weight…
now i have got major back issues…
so yes parents, please make sure that your kids backpacks are light and they are wearing it correcly, your kids will thank you in the future..
(mind you, i started to refuse to do homework, and stopped taking my back to and from school at times because of the weight, i still got a good enter score and the job of my dreams)