As a student, you might find yourself lugging many heavy books to bring home every day. If you are waiting in the front after school, you can see students struggling to manage full-packed backpacks. Studies reveal that carrying heavy backpacks can lead to curvature of the spine, rounding of the shoulders and more fall injuries from the imbalance created by leaning forward to manage heavy packs. In general, heavy books equal back pain!
According to researchers from Tel Aviv University, carrying heavy backpacks can cause serious nerve problems in our necks and shoulders, connecting to our hands and fingers. Weight strains on our backs slow-down the speed of nerve signals that control our sense awareness; our nerves respond more slowly due to the effect of carrying heavy weight on our backs.. How can students manage to carry their heavy textbooks without putting so much weight on our shoulders? This article discusses some efficient strategies from experts.
You can try to bring two bags to school, your normal backpack and one smaller bag, Jensen Rider’ 17 puts some books in her backpack and rest of them in a smaller bag so that she can reduce the weight of each bag while evening the weight between them. She keeps her smaller bag in her locker for days when she has to bring home more books.
Eryn Golden ’ 17 and Sarah Lapsevich ‘17 mentioned that they kept two copies of some heavy textbooks: one in school and one at their house. This reduces the weight of their backpacks. Medical experts report that a backpack should only weigh 10-15% of your body weight. Weigh yourself. Divide your weight by 10. Then weigh your backpack. If your backpack is within range of 10% of your weight, you’re fine. If it’s higher than 15%, you need to find strategies to reduce how much weight you carry on your back.
A binder is relatively lighter than a textbook, but it still takes up a lot of space in students’ backpacks. Students can take the papers that they need for the night out of the binder, rather than carry the whole binder home. In the morning, they can return the papers to their binder.
You can also photocopy pages of your textbook which you are using for homework for that night. For example, if you need two pages from you math book, you can simply photocopy those those two pages downstair in the Media Center for 20 cents. Of course, taking a picture of those pages from your phone would be a smart option.
Know the dangers of carrying heavy backpacks, and be creative in reducing the load.