{"id":44393,"date":"2025-08-05T00:34:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T00:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/44393\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T00:34:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T00:34:10","slug":"doctors-stress-the-importance-of-backpack-safety-as-classes-resume","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/44393\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctors stress the importance of backpack safety as classes resume"},"content":{"rendered":"

ROANOKE, Va. \u2013 Medical experts warn parents to pay attention to how heavy their child\u2019s backpacks<\/a> are as students get ready to head back to school. <\/p>\n

Dr. Zachary Williams, who is the interim emergency medicine medical director at Lewis Gale Medical Center, said students come in with neck, back, and shoulder pain linked to heavy backpacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think across the nation and even at the emergency department on rare circumstances, but not infrequently, we see kids come in with neck pain, back pain, shoulder pain, and some of that can be contributed to backpack use and the overweight or the amount of weight that\u2019s in the backpack,\u201d said Williams. <\/p>\n

He said there can be long- or short-term conditions when it comes to heavy backpacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly, having too much weight in your back can contribute to longer-term or even short-term musculoskeletal disorders or pain, muscle fatigue, and then eventually could even contribute to poor posture,\u201d said Williams. <\/p>\n

10 News spoke with a couple of students who agree that their backpacks can be pretty heavy. <\/p>\n

\u201cWith the schoolbooks and stuff and with a lot of our folders and papers and everything,\u201d said rising high school senior Rowan Soto. <\/p>\n

\u201cKind of, but I like to hold it on the handle of the straps,\u201d said student Ella Coleman<\/p>\n

Parent Candace Stephens said that high school students rarely use their lockers, which contributes to the weight issue. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say so mostly for textbook reasons in high school, they don\u2019t use their lockers very much,\u201d said Stephens. <\/p>\n

To prevent your child from going to the emergency room, Dr. Williams has some advice.<\/p>\n

He said backpacks should weigh no more than 10-15% of a child\u2019s body weight. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you think about that in regards to a kindergartener, typical body weight is going to be about 40 to 50 pounds. So we think that a maximum weight should be about the 5-6 pound range in a backpack for a kindergartener. A sixth grader is going to be about 100 pounds. So we can expect about 10 to 15 pounds to be a reasonable amount for the backpack,\u201d said Williams. <\/p>\n

Williams said it\u2019s important to pick out or buy the right backpack.<\/p>\n

Here are Key Safety Features to Look For:<\/p>\n

Padded, wide shoulder straps<\/p>\n

Proper positioning (no more than two inches below the waist)<\/p>\n

Multiple compartments for weight distribution<\/p>\n

Look for backpacks with a waist strap, especially for heavier backpacks<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important for kids to wear them correctly as well. <\/p>\n

\u201cGetting them as snug as possible will help distribute the weight,\u201d said Williams.<\/p>\n

Also, kids should use both shoulder straps, not just one.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, if we\u2019re putting all the weight on one shoulder strap, that\u2019s going to contribute to that overweight on one side. If the child prefers a messenger bag style, it needs to be across and not just again on one shoulder or the other,\u201d said Williams. <\/p>\n

Finally, when packing your backpack, you want to place the heavier items closest to the back, such as binders, folders, and notebooks. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, with school right around the corner, Williams said parents need to be vigilant. <\/p>\n

\u201cJust general safety precautions, kids are more active, we\u2019ve got a lot of sports coming up in the fall, and just keeping that in mind. We\u2019re always here to take care of the kids if we need to,\u201d said Williams. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WSLS 10 – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ROANOKE, Va. \u2013 Medical experts warn parents to pay attention to how heavy their child\u2019s backpacks are as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[25337,102,1906,6623,19435,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-44393","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-back-to-school","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-mental-health","11":"tag-mentalhealth","12":"tag-southwest-virginia","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}