Assessment of various contributing factors for back pain in children while carrying school bags

Abstract

It is common today to see school children buckling from weight of their school bags, many children bear the burden of carrying school bags that are to heavy for their body frames, that might end up facing a number of health problems. The objectives were to assess the school bag weight and body weight to get the MASW(maximum acceptable school bag weight) and to investigate contributing factors of back pain felt by children carrying school bags. The study was conducted on a sample of 120 school children from middle class ( i.e. from vi to viii) and on their mothers. Respondents were randomly selected from five government and five private schools of Ludhiana city form the age group of 11-14 years. A pre structured interview schedule was used to get the data to achieve the objectives. Results show that only 54 respondents were following the standard value of MASW, which is >15 per cent of the body weight. Average total time was 46 min to carry school bag and standard deviation was 9.40. It was observed that half of the respondents carrying school bags with one or both strap in one shoulder. Total distance covered by the respondents from home to school and vice versa was 218 meter in 46 minutes.