IS YOUR CHILD’S BACK PACK GOING TO CAUSE INJURY?
Patient Spotlights
Finding a Safe Pack Despite their potential problems, backpacks are great when used properly. Before you buy one, though, consider a backpack’s construction.
“Kind, caring, and compassionate!”
“My therapist was amazing, kind, caring and compassionate. She was very knowledgeable about my injury and was supportive and patient during treatment. Keep up what you’re doing! Thank you for all your help and knowledge during my difficult time of recovery.” Christina B. “Great therapy team” “My therapist was amazing, outstanding and very knowledgeable. She has a great therapy team and scheduling system.” Virginia M.
Look for the following to choose the right backpack:
• Lightweight pack: get one that doesn’t add a lot of weight to your child’s load; for example, leather packs look cool, but they weigh more than canvas backpacks • Two wide, padded shoulder straps: straps that are too narrow can dig into shoulders • Padded back: it not only provides increased comfort, but also protects kids from being poked by sharp objects or edges (pencils, rulers, notebooks, etc.) inside the pack • Waist belt: this helps to distribute the weight more evenly across the body • Multiple compartments: to help distribute the weight throughout the pack Although packs on wheels (which look like small, overhead luggage bags) may be good options for students who have to lug around really heavy loads, they’re very hard to pull up stairs and to roll through snow. Check with the school before buying a rolling pack; many don’t allow them because they can be a tripping hazard in the hallways. Using Backpacks Wisely To help kids prevent injury when using a backpack: • Lighten the load. No matter how well-designed the backpack, less weight is always better. Use the bathroom scale to check that a pack isn’t over 10% to 15% of your child’s body weight (for example, the backpack of a child who weighs 80 pounds shouldn’t weigh more than 8 to 12 pounds). • Use and pick up the backpack properly. Make sure kids use both shoulder straps. Bags that are slung over the shoulder or across the chest — or that only have one strap — aren’t as effective at distributing the weight as bags with two wide shoulder straps, and therefore may strain muscles. Also tighten the straps enough for the backpack to fit closely to the body. The pack should rest evenly in the middle of the back and not sag down to the buttocks. You may need to adjust your kids’ backpacks and/or reduce how much they carry if they : • Struggle to get the backpack on or off • Have back pain • Lean forward to carry the backpack If your child has back pain or numbness or weakness in the arms or legs, talk to your doctor or a physical therapist.
AlleviateMuscle PainWith Kinesio Tape
You can put Kinesio Tape to the same use in everyday use as well. For fatigued muscles and sprains you can apply a pain relieving spray to the area and then wrap it up with Kinesio tape as you would for a tennis elbow and let it stayfor a couple of days. When using Kinesio tapes, remember that you can wrap tightly by stretching the tape to 40% of its capacity only
Kinesio Tape - Carpel TunnelI
over the joint areas. For the Muscle areas, you can stretch it up to a maximum of 20%. Anymore than this would result in over- constriction of the blood vessels below the skin and thus, numb the muscles beyond use. Other than the general applications of Kinesio tape mentioned above, it is also used by therapists to alleviate a large number of muscle and nerve related afflictions. In the sporting world, it is used to alleviate knee pains experienced byrunners, neck pains faced byswimmers, ankle sprains faced by soccer players and in other ball games such as tennis, basketball, baseball etc. The possibilities of Kinesio tape are limitless. When used in the right manner it can be used to reduce and alleviate muscle pain without taking anyformof sedatives of pain relievers.
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