Abstract
<p><strong>Background:</strong> Backpacks are used popularly by students to carry their school belongings in many countries. Therefore, serious concerns are being raised about the effect of the backpack on children. There is ongoing concern regarding the weight of children’s schoolbags and the negative consequences of such heavy loads on the developing spine and cardio-respiratory systems. There are various other factors which are affecting cardiorespiratory fitness in adult as well as children. A significant reduction was reported for most of the ventilatory function parameters while carrying the backpack.<br /> <strong>Purpose:</strong> To check the immediate effect of the backpack on the ventilation of school-going children aged from 7-15 years in Navsari. <strong>Method:</strong> 210 subjects were taken in this study to check respiratory parameters. All included children were tested in standing position with the head straight after taking written consent from parents. They were further divided into three age groups ranging from 7-9 years, 10-12 years, and 13-15 years. Spirometry was done using the spirometer of clarity medical Pvt. Ltd. Spirometer used in the study facilitates the total valuation of lung function including forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR). <strong>Results:</strong> With the help of SPSS software paired sample t-test was done. The parameters of FVC, FEV1, and PEFR showed a significant reduction in the data with a backpack, without a backpack and with one shoulder strap. The result of parameters was p˂0.005 except for the value of PEFR with one shoulder strap in the third age group which was p=0.108. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> There is a significant reduction in respiratory function (FVC, FEV1, and PEFR) in correlation with age, weight, and height and bag weight of subjects.</p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0680/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>
Highlights
There is ongoing concern regarding the weight of children’s schoolbags and the negative consequences of such heavy loads on the developing spine and cardio-respiratory systems
The study was done on 210 subjects with mean age 11.24±2.159 ranging from 7-15 years, the outcome measure was determined by pulmonary function test (PFT) which consist of FVC, FEV1 and PEFR components
The present study was carried out with the concept of strong correlation between effect of backpack weight and Ventilation amongst 210 subjects who were divided into three group according to their age
Summary
There is ongoing concern regarding the weight of children’s schoolbags and the negative consequences of such heavy loads on the developing spine and cardio-respiratory systems. A significant reduction was reported for most of the ventilatory function parameters while carrying the backpack.[3] Musculoskeletal symptoms are believed to be multifactorial and its effect on body systems varies with each and every systems of the body, carriage of heavy schoolbags is a suspected ‘contributory factor’, and represents an ‘overlooked daily physical stress’ for school going children with respiratory system more affected which is mentioned by Whittfield et al [5] Normal respiration is a very Complex mechanism. 2) Elevation and depression of the ribs is responsible for increase and decrease in the anteroposterior diameter of the chest cavity. These two methods are shown in figure below. The respiratory muscles normally perform “work” to cause inspiration and not to cause expiration. [6] The work of inspiration can be further divided into three fractions: 1) Compliance work or elastic work - required to expand the lungs against the lung and chest elastic forces. [6]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
