Background: Many studies present evidence to support backpack load limits for children, but the suggested limits have been based on percentage of the body weight with discrepancies. While some researchers proposed 10 % of body mass, another research works proposed 15 % of body mass. Brackley and Stevenson recommended that backpacks weight should be between 10-15% of a child’s body mass. Considering the fact that in spite of many studies have being carried out on influence of school bag carrying in India, no such study has been conducted in Kashmir valley to see the effect of heavy school bag. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study carried out among children from both government and private school of Kashmir Division. The study was carried out in the month of March 2017. Sample size was calculated using openepi software with 95% confidence limits and 80% power. The sample size came out to be 500 school going children in the age group of 6-15 years. Participants were enrolled from both government and private school. Those in the age group of 6-15 years, studying in 1st to 10th standards, ability to ambulate independently, and ability to wear a school bag while standing on a weighing scale were included in the study. All children with pathological causes of back pain were excluded from the study. Results: A total of 2005 school children were included in the study. The sample comprised of 1067 male and 938 female school children. 51.6% students belong to private schools and rest to government schools. The mean age of the pupil was 11.03 for male and 9.98 for female. The overall mean body weight for pupils was 31.79 (kg). The pupils carried an average school bag weight of 4.85(kg) ± 2.05, ranging from 2 kg to 9 kg. Seven hundred seven of the students reported having had pain or discomfort in the body over the previous 2 weeks out of which 317 (44.83%) carry bag load of >15% of their body weight. Conclusion: The growing prevalence of musculoskeletal pain among children is a worrying fact. Policy makers, Health care professionals and teachers should apply the available resources and man power for information, early diagnosis, prevention and treatment of this grave problem in a school setting and should come up with some law against heavy bag pack use in children.
Impact Factor
2022: 6.012
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