School Bag Packs and Associated Problems among School Going Children

Abstract

Abstract Objective The objective of this study was to assess school backpacks and associated problems across school going children aged 8–12 years in Lahore, Pakistan. Self-perceived pain related to bag pack use, correlation between self-reported pain and perceived weight of bag pack, duration of bag pack carriage and the method of bag pack carriage were evaluated. Methodology A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 3500 students from different private schools across Lahore. Both male and female students from the age of 8–12 years that were present on the day of the study with no apparent physical deformity or any musculoskeletal disorder were included in the study. Questionnaire used in this study was a modified questionnaire from a previous study.Data collected through questionnaire was coded into SPSS version 18.Data was represented in the form of graphs, tables, cross tabs and bar charts. Chi square test of association was applied with p value<0.05 considered as significant. Results The results indicate that 82% of students surveyed carry bag packs, 54.66% of the students perceived the weight of their bag pack heavy, 40.22% medium while only 5.12% reported their bag pack lightly weighed. Pain was higher in individuals who perceived their bag pack weight heavy (i. e., 48%) pain, who carried their bag pack for over 20 min (44%) pain and over 30 min (56%) pain, respectively. Similarly percentage of pain was higher in individuals who carried their bag pack at one shoulder (i. e., 74%) pain. Conclusion The results of the present study show that there is a relationship between bag pack use, duration and method of bag pack carriage this suggests that heavy, medium and light bag packs may have damaging effects for the school going children. A study to compare children who follow and that do not follow the recommended guidelines should be conducted to find out the guidelines could help reduce back pain, the bag pack guidelines have addressed bag pack weight and duration of carriage should be considered.