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Acute backpack injuries in children

Brent M Wiersema1, Eric J Wall, Susan L Foad

  • 1Bi-County Community Hospital, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Warren, Michigan, USA.

Pediatrics
|January 2, 2003
PubMed

Insights

Most book backpack injuries in children don't involve the back. Head/face injuries were most common, with tripping over backpacks being the leading cause. Prevention strategies should consider all injury types, not just back-related ones.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Emergency Medicine
  • Injury Prevention
  • Consumer Product Safety

Background:

  • Book backpacks are common for school-aged children.
  • Backpack-related injuries are a concern in emergency departments.
  • Existing data often emphasizes back injuries, potentially overlooking other common injury types.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine the most frequent mechanisms and locations of injuries related to book backpacks in children presenting to emergency departments.
  • To inform the development of targeted backpack injury prevention strategies.

Main Methods:

  • Descriptive analysis of The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) data.
  • Inclusion of children aged 6-18 with backpack-related injuries from 1999-2000.
  • Categorization of injuries by age, sex, location, and mechanism.

Main Results:

  • 247 children sustained backpack injuries; mean age 11.8 years, 50% male.
  • Most common injury sites: head/face (22%), hand (14%), wrist/elbow (13%), shoulder (12%), foot/ankle (12%).
  • Back injuries accounted for 11% of cases; tripping over backpacks (28%) was the most common injury mechanism.

Conclusions:

  • Contrary to common assumptions, 89% of backpack injuries in this study did not involve the back.
  • The study does not support the hypothesis that back injury is the primary issue with book backpacks in emergency settings.
  • Prevention efforts should broaden focus beyond solely back-related injuries to encompass head, face, and extremity trauma.
Abstract

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