A study on relationship between carrying schoolbags and the prevalence of neck and back pain among 7 – 9 year old students

Abstract

There is a growing concern these days that children are carrying way too much weight on their backs. School students are at risk of developing Musculoskeletal Disorder or possibly long term back pain due to the frequent exposure of carrying heavy schoolbags. In Malaysia, this problem is currently an overlooked issue as not many are aware of the importance of maximum allowable load that should be carried by school students together with proper posture and how all these will affect the children in the future. An interview was conducted based on 90 school students of age 7 to 9 year old regarding the body part discomfort that they experience while carrying the schoolbag. Furthermore, the weight of the schoolbag and the student's height and weight was taken for this study. The responses were classified based on age and gender as the anthropometry differs on ages and gender. A statistical analysis is carried out with the results obtained. The finding of the statistical analysis showed that the prevalence of neck and back pain does exist among 7-9 year old school students and almost 90 of them are affected. Among the main problems are that the schoolbag design, the incorrect ways of carrying the schoolbag, the excessive weight of the schoolbag and the prolonged duration of constantly carrying the schoolbag. Necessary action should be taken to overcome these problems. © The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2017.