A kid with back pain?

Now that the school year is well underway and homework, projects and book reports are piling up, you may notice your child is bringing more and more home in their backpack. From lunchboxes to textbooks, there’s plenty your kid needs to succeed. But can they shoulder it all?

How heavy is too heavy?

Kevin Neal, MD, chief of Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery at Wolfson Children's Hospital and the Pediatric Orthopedic Fellowship director at Nemours Children's Health, Jacksonville, recommended weighing your child’s backpack to ensure it’s not too heavy. Schoolwork, sports and other after-school activities may fill up their bags with gear.

“The best way to measure the weight of a backpack is to have a child stand on the scale with the backpack, then without the backpack, and subtract the difference,” Dr. Neal explained. “The general recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is that the upper limit should be about 10% of body weight. So, for a 100-pound child, that’s about 10 pounds.”

The impact of heavy backpacks

According to Dr. Neal, a heavy backpack can cause problems over time. All people become susceptible to back pain as they age, and carrying around heavy loads only worsens the issue. Doing so multiple times a day throughout an entire school year? That’s bound to add up.

“Back pain becomes very common in all people after their skeletons mature. Most children go through puberty and their bones finish growing in late middle or early high school,” he said. “Half of teenagers experience back pain and so do 90% of adults. Heavy backpacks can make things worse.”

Choosing the right backpack

Dr. Neal added that choosing the right backpack style can help prevent back pain in students of any age. Rolling backpacks seem like an obvious solution, but he said many schools won’t allow them because they can cause tripping accidents. Instead, focus on finding the best fit for over-the-shoulder bags.

“Look for backpacks with two wide, well-padded straps and a waist strap to help distribute the bag’s weight more evenly across the body. Placing heavier items, like laptops or textbooks, closer to the back is ideal, so choose a bag with compartments that allow for easy partitioning,” he said, adding that making sure kids wear both backpack straps can help prevent issues.

“Wearing both backpack straps can help prevent poor posture, muscle strain and back pain, which are important for overall spinal health.”

When to see a doctor

While back pain that isn’t just sore muscles and might require surgery is very rare, Dr. Neal wants parents to seek a professional opinion if they're concerned.

“If a child has an unusual amount of back pain, I would highly encourage them to see a physician to ensure there’s nothing serious going on,” he said.