Back Pain Articles

Last year, chiropractic care could have saved about 3,300 children age 5-14 that were treated in emergency rooms for this back-to-school related activity. A San Diego chiropractor and spinal decompression specialist reveals how this could have all been avoided with advanced chiropractic care. It is important to understand what it is and how you can avoid it happening to your children.

It’s an exciting time for millions of children and parents all overr the world. After a well deserved summer vacation, it’s time to head back to school. And what does back to school mean to most moms and dads? Shopping! This includes school supplies, notebooks, paper, pens, pencils, the latest fall fashion clothes and one of the hottest trends of the last few years which is backpacks.

Backpacks are an admired item. Millions of elementary, middle, and high school students are heading to their classes with filled backpacks thrown over their shoulders. While hauling a backpack to school every day may seem harmless enough, but it can cause sore neck and back problems and injuries for students who don’t pack or carry their backpacks correctly. Those weighty loads can cause repetitive stress injuries and spinal ache that will get worse with age and may last a life span.

Some research studies actually say that if they are used improperly, they are outright dangerous and can cause permanent damage to your child’s spine. This can possibly lead to herniated discs and arthritis.

Here are some shocking back pack facts: The Consumer Products Safety Commission estimates that over three thousand children aged 5 to 14 were treated in emergency rooms last year for injuries related to backpacks. Backpack-related injuries are up over 250 percent since 1996. According to researchers at the University of Michigan spinal program, up to 60 percent of children will experience some form of back pain by the time they reach age 18. An Auburn University study shows heavy backpacks can be a dangerous threat to spine development. In their survey sample, the average pack was seventeen percent of the child’s body weight overall. This weight is the equivalent of a 150 pound adult carrying a 26 pound backpack. 67.2% of the children that were examined in this study suffered muscle soreness, 50.8% back pain, 24.5% numbness and 14.7% shoulder pain. Studies at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center also show that backpacks that are too heavy as the cause of shoulder or lower-back pain and poor posture in kids.

A recent study published in the journal Spine, found that 6 percent of 10-year-olds complained of low back pain, while 10 to 15 percent of 12-year-olds reportedly had lower back pain. A recent scientific study found that carrying a backpack affects the mobility of spinal bones. This leads to restricted movement which is a risk factor for low back pain.

Another study used magnetic resonance imaging to examine the effect of backpacks on the intervertebral discs of the spine. These are the fluid-filled cushions between spinal bones. According to the article, backpacks affect the fluid in the discs. This is a risk factor for disc herniation and osteoarthritis.

There is new research that reveals an alarming danger associated with childhood backpack use. This research stems from the growing number of reports of childhood back pain in recent years. By the end of their teen years, 60% of youths experienced at least one back pain episode. New research indicates that this increase may be due to the improper use of backpacks in children. Research presented at the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation’s annual meeting in San Francisco stated that children carrying a load of twenty five percent of their body weight had balance problems and were more likely to experience injuries from falls.

It’s obvious from all the research that can be hazardous and can cause harm to your child’s spine if they are not used properly. One of the chief safety hazards with backpacks is overfilling them. Many children are carrying up to forty pounds. and are injuring themselves. If your children are feeling head pain, neck aches, bad posture, achy and strained muscles, low back pain, muscle spasms, tingling hands, and increased scoliosis complications, they are carrying way too much weight imcorrectly.

Your children should carry no more than 10-15% of their body weight on their backs. Here are some backpack weight guide lines to go by. A child weighing 40 lbs should carry no more than 6 lbs. A child weighing 75 lbs should carry no more than 11 lbs. A child weighing 100 lbs should carry no more than 15 lbs. A child weighing 125 lbs should carry no more than 18 lbs. A child weighing 150 lbs should carry no more than 22.5 lbs.

Here are some more tips on wearing backpacks properly. Make sure the weight is distributed evenly. It helps to put heavier items on the bottom and this keeps the weight off the shoulders and improves posture. Have your child wear both shoulder straps unless there is a specially designed backpack that is designed to use only one strap. Lugging a heavy backpack using one strap can shift the weight to one side which can lead to misaligned spinal bones, neck and muscle spasms, low back pain and walking improperly. Get a pack with well padded or air-filled straps. Non-padded straps will dig into your shoulders and cause pain and injury. If the back pack comes with a waist strap, make sure your child uses it.

Many injuries in the spine occur from simply lifting the pack off the ground. To avoid this, make sure your child always lifts with their legs bent and their backs straight up. Do not bend forward.
It is also advisable to make sure that your children only take what they need to school. The extra weight adds up fast and can injure their developing spines.

Last and most important, make sure your child has their spines checked by a chiropractic office to make sure their spine is in proper alignment and they are not setting themselves up for permanent injury. You can even bring them in with their backpacks and a good chiropractic office will make sure that they fit correctly.

Learn more about backpack safety. Stop by the chiropractic site site where you can find out all about chiropractic care and what it can do for you.

If you happen to look at a large majority of people sitting on chairs, you are going to see that they are either slouching, lounging or just leaning back, relaxing in a manner which does no good to their spinal cord.

Back pain can be credited to a lot of different things, such as picking something up thats to heavy or bend the wrong way. However, most back pain comes from the posture at which you sit in a chair or sleep at night, and most do even realize they are doing it wrong. Slouching can put so much strain on the spinal cord that the nerves and can get pinched just by sitting there. When this happens the only way to correct it, is to correct your posture.

Many of us have a 9-to-5 job, and find ourselves slouching in front of a computer, definitely not bothered about the chair we are sitting in, or our posture. Our job is to leer away at the monitor, not being bothered much about the effect that slouch has upon our shoulders, neck, back and stomach. And then we go complaining to our doctor about neck problems.

The muscles in the body will degenerate over time if you are not exercising. These same muscles are the ones that most people do not realize are the ones that best support your back, which can lead to bad posture. The best way to combat this, if it is happening to you is to find an ergonomic chair to support the posture in your back.

Most chairs that you sit in, will seem comfortable while sitting there, but that is because the body is so used to that slouching position. If are reading this in your favorite chair at home look at how you are sitting now and determine if you’re posture is good or bad.

Laying back in a chair and kicking you’re feet up, can also be bad for posture, as you will be putting a lot of strain your tailbone by doing this. Keeping your feet on the ground, and on a solid surface will allow them to support your body in a way to correct your posture.

People tend to change their posture for specific occasions but as soon as that occasion has past they go back to slouching and hurting their body. This can be found in many cases in an interview, because most people trying to get a job know that interviewers pay attention to that.

One of the other things that people do not realize up front is how their computer is set up can sometimes hurt their posture as well. This stems from putting your computer screen in a place that requires strain on the neck in order to read the screen. If you have your computer sitting at eye level it will take a tremendous amount of strain off your spinal cord. This happens because you are not required to look up or down for long periods of time, and can keep a good posture while sitting there.

One of the best things you can do to start the transformation of your posture is to do exercises to strengthen your neck and back muscles. This will make it easier to support your corrected posture making it easier to do.

Most people try and correct their posture and fail at it miserably because they do not try hard enough. Teaching the body to do something it doesnt want to do can be hard. However, with the right discipline you can get the posture corrected and be on your way to a healthier, happier life!