Despite the common belief that backpacks cannot cause chronic back problems, the heavy everyday burden of textbooks and binders can severely endanger students’ backs.

Of the 147 upper school students who answered the Winged Post’s survey, 97.3 percent carry backpacks on their backs.

Upper school nurse Clare Elchert advises students not to carry a heavy backpack because of the consequences as a result.

“Well, certainly carrying a heavy load on a daily basis and maybe slinging it over one shoulder, not making sure the weight is equally distributed with both straps on your backpack, can affect your alignment over time,” she said.

Dr. Melvin S. Hsu is a chiropractic specialist in disc spinal decompression therapy at Unison Spine Center in Sunnyvale, California.

“It can cause your body to be leaning forward to compensate for the heavy backpack, and the compression, the weight of your backpack, can cause abnormal curvature of the spine,” he said. “We call that scoliosis.”

Heavy backpacks, especially those carried on one shoulder, pose the risk of inducing lateral curvature of the spine, also known as scoliosis.

“If you develop a curvature or scoliosis of the spine, it can have severe consequences for a lifetime,” Dr. Hsu said. “it will be difficult to cure, and it can cause chronic back pain.”

Additionally, heavy backpacks cause students’ bodies to lean forward to compensate for the weight. As the student grows older, this can evolve into discomfort and poor posture and eventually may damage concentration.
“If you have back pain, it can also interfere with your concentration, because you are uncomfortable,” Dr. Hsu said. “You cannot sit still or too steady, and then if you require medications, it can have side effects.”

Even with medications, back pain cannot be fully quelled. Medications also pose long-term side effects.

“I wouldn’t go to medications,” Elchert said. “What a person needs to do is to try to correct the problem that’s causing the aches, pains, or strains, which would be using your locker, only carrying books you absolutely need for a particular day, not feeling like you have to live with everything all in your backpack all the time, doing proactive things to avoid the consequences of carrying a heavy load.”

Dr. Hsu recommends for students to carry backpacks weighing no more than 15 percent of their body weight, and a 2004 study conducted by Heather M. Brackley and Dr. Joan M. Stevenson for Spine Journal draws the same conclusion.

Damage of shoulder tissue or tendons can also result from carrying heavy backpacks, often on one shoulder.

“I have tendinitis and problems because I carry things and overuse [my shoulder] too much,” said Amanda Cheung (9). “It’s not convenient to use my locker.”

Despite the fact that lockers allow students to reduce backpack weight, 27.7 percent of surveyed students use their lockers everyday, 48.3 percent never use their locker, 8.8 percent use it every week, 9.5 percent use it a few times a month, and 15.6 percent use it a few times a year..

“Sometimes [my parents] say that I should use my locker and put the books that I don’t need in my locker, but I don’t use it because I like to carry everything in a bag,” Karina Butani (11) said.

While many think that students’ backs are strong enough to support the everyday burden of textbooks and binders, both Dr. Hsu and Elchert advise students to use their lockers or carry textbooks by hand instead of in a backpack to prevent chronic back problems.