Backpack Safety Tips

Hey, everyone. Welcome to our top three rules for backpack safety. Now, most of you have already started school or it's your first week, so let's make sure we start the school year right with some backpack safety tips.

Number one, making sure you wear wearing both straps. So as my lovely assistant is doing, she's wearing both straps here. Show them what you should not be doing. Yes, that's right, one strap, because what happens? And then you get a little uneven up here, neck pain, shoulder pain. You get it.

So number two, now, you might see some kids nowadays... having their bags sagging down past their hips. You don't want that because, again, that's going to hold them down, can hurt their low back, the mid back. So what we want to do is tighten up these straps here so that the backpack is right above the hips here. So make sure to watch that in your child.

The next thing is make sure they're not carrying around a whole lot of weight. The rule of thumb is 10% of their body weight. So if your child weighs 100 pounds, no more than 10 pounds. 80 pounds, no more than eight pounds. You get the point. But make sure they're not carrying more than that because it can really irritate their neck, their upper back, their shoulders, and they will feel it by the end of the day.

Have a great time with the rest of the school year and we'll see you soon.

Be Well,

Dr. Lisa