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Community and Health - OSTEOPATH

The correct or right school backpack?

Primary Middle Secondary

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Critical and creative thinking
Australian Curriculum General Capability: Personal and social capability

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Numeracy

Background

Osteopathy Australia 18 January 2018 has listed the criteria for the "right backpack":

Make sure the backpack is the right size – it should be no wider than the student’s chest and no higher than 3 cm above their shoulders – they should be able to look up to the ceiling without their head hitting the bag.
A moulded frame which conforms to the student’s back when adjusted correctly.
Two wide, adjustable shoulder straps with padding for extra comfort – Wearing a bag with only one shoulder strap curves the spine unnaturally, putting stress on the whole body.
An adjustable hip or sternum strap.
Separate compartments that allow packing ease.
One made from canvas or another light-weight material.

How to wear a backpack

Ideally, a school bag should weigh less than 10 per cent of the student’s body weight. For instance, a student weighing 40kg should carry 2-3kg, and 4kg at the very most.

Both shoulder straps should always be used to distribute the weight evenly on the student’s back. Waist straps also help.

Don’t wear the backpack below the small of the back. The shoulder straps should be adjusted so that the bottom of the bag sits around the student’s waist – trace a line from their belly button around to their back, the bottom of the bag should sit around there.

The bag should not hang out from the shoulders – it should contour the student’s back – and should not swing from side to side when the student is moving around.

YouTube: Backpacks can cause major damage

https://youtu.be/-OQBryA5LPI

The Problem: Is this what happens in reality at school? How can Mathematics & Physics help?

Wearing backpacks

Resources required:

Body Weight Scales
Cameras

1. You are to conduct a survey, a photographic survey, of the students at your school and their backpacks.

Put all the data into an Excel spreadsheet:

a. Right or Left shoulder

b. Strapped across both shoulders

c. Photograph (only from the back and no faces)

d. Bag material - lightweight, canvas or heavier material

e. Straps with padding?

f. Separate compartments for ease of packing?

g. An adjustable hip or sternum strap?

h. Ask each student if they have any pain anywhere - neck, back or shoulder pain. Record the response.

2. How many students wear their backpacks correctly according to the Osteopathy Australia's criteria? Put it into a table.

3. Next, ask the students if you can weigh their backpacks and themselves and work out the percentage ratio of weigh of student to weigh of backpack. How many are less than 10%? Record this information.

4. Look at the following infograph and from your videos of students wearing their backpacks work out which areas of the body are effected by heavy backpacks for each student. Put this information into your data table.

Backpack damage
(Source: Huffington Post)

Secondary only

A. In pairs, you are to read the following "Wait, Is that Backpack...Floating?" article from Wired 21 February 2020 and then explain the Physics and Mathematics behind this invention.

Wired