A study to know association of backpack weight and backache in school going girls of Lahore,Pakistan

Aim: investigate the effect of school bag weight and carrying methods on back of school going girls. study design: descriptive cross-sectional study. place of study: one of the private schools in lahore (amal school,tulspura) duration of study: four weeks in may,2014. methods: based on randomly selected 109 normal healthy school girls from amal school in tulspura area,a private school of lahore pakistan. subjects taken from the age groups 6-15 years. the age of the subjects recorded and confirmed from the school record. exclusion criteria were any orthopedic problems including foot or ankle deformities and leg length discrepancy. results: out of 109 girls,65.1% lie in the age group 6-10 years and 39.9 % in the age group 11-15 years. in the weight criteria,14.7 % lie in 10-19 kg,45% lie in 20-29 kg,22.9% in the 30-39 kg,8.3% in 40-49 kg,7.3% in 50-59kg and 1.8% in 60-69kgs. thus,it shows highest percentage (45%) of weight lies in the range 20-29kg. when the weight was measured again with the school bags on girls' shoulders,the weight increased significantly. after calculations weight of the school bags was found. 29.4% of school bag weight lies in 1-4 kg i.e. normal weight,67% lie in 5-9 kg i.e. heavy weight and 3.7% lie in the range 10-14 kg i.e.,very heavy weight. it shows majority of school girls (67%) carry heavy school bags weighing 5-9 kg. when the school bag percentage relative to the body weight of the girls was calculated,it was found that 13.8% had 1-105 weight of bag which is appropriate range. conclusion: improper use of backpacks is not healthy for anyone,especially for children who are more susceptible to injury because their bodies are growing and developing.