Backpacks trip-up school kids
20 January 2003
A US study of injuries to schoolchildren involving backpacks shows that being hit by a backpack or tripping over one presents a greater acute injury risk than simply carrying the pack.
Researchers in the US examined a central database of emergency room records for 1999 and 2000 from 100 US hospitals, and selected injuries that were recorded as ‘backpack-related’.
247 such injuries to children aged 6 to 18 years were analysed, and the results published in the January issue of Pediatrics (2003; 111(1): 163-166).
Only 11 per cent of the injuries were to the back, whereas 22 per cent of injuries were to the head or face, 14 per cent to the hand, 13 per cent to the wrist or elbow, 12 per cent to the shoulder and 12 per cent to the foot or ankle.
Tripping over a backpack (28 per cent), followed by being hit by one (13 per cent) were the most common means of these injuries being acquired.
Concern has been expressed in the past about the back injury potential in children of a backpack that is too heavy or being carried awkwardly, especially on one shoulder.
This current study suggests that backpack safety in children needs to encompass broader parameters, particularly how the backpack is handled when off the back.
Last Reviewed: 20 January 2003
- 1. Pediatrics 2003; 111(1): 163-166.
