Monday, September 12, 2005
National School Backpack Awareness Day 2005
 September 21 is National School Backpack Awareness Day, and the University of Southern Indiana is partnering with St. Mary’s Medical Center to educate teachers and students in local Catholic schools about backpack safety.USI professors and students in the occupational therapy and occupational therapy assistant programs and St. Mary’s occupational therapists will weigh the backpacks of students in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade at Corpus Christi, St. Boniface, Holy Spirit, Christ the King, and St. Theresa Catholic schools. Each year, over 5,000 school children go to emergency rooms because of injuries related to over-weighted backpacks. In a recent study, sixty percent of school age children reported chronic back pain related to heavy backpacks. Students may experience aching back and shoulders, weakened muscles, tingling arms, and stooped posture. Occupational therapists recommend that a student’s backpack weigh no more than 15 percent of his or her body weight. For strategies on how to properly load a backpack, go to www.promoteot.org/AI_BackpackStrategies.html. For more information on National Backpack Awareness Day and how occupational therapy can help all types of people participate more fully in their daily occupations, visit the American Occupational Therapy Association Web site at www.aota.org. |
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