Physical Therapy Today: Backpack safety - 6 steps to backpack safety for kid

As children head back to school in September, a disturbing new trend is emerging. Young children are suffering from back pain much sooner than generations before them. A major contributing factor seems to be a heavy backpack. Most parents (and children) are unaware of the potential injury that heavy backpacks can cause.

A news release by the American Physical Therapy Association in April 2009 revealed that more than 50 percent of children surveyed carry backpacks that are too heavy.

If a backpack is stuffed with heavy books and/or worn incorrectly, the bio-mechanical pressure on the spine incr...