Backpack carriage effect on head posture and ground reaction forces in school children

Carrying the school bag may lead to forward leaning of the head and trunk which may result in spinal deformities.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of carrying a backpack on neck angles and ground reaction forces (GRFs) in children.

3-D motion analysis system, with a force plate, was used to examine the effect of carrying backpack on neck angles and GRFs of thirty children with mean age (10.06 ± 1.31 years), mean weight (34.56 ± 6.9 kg), and mean height (138.63 ± 9.82 cm). The unloaded posture was compared with posture when carrying a backpack. The static test was used to assess the three angles of the neck, and the dynamic test was used to assess the GRFs.

There were no significant differences in the craniohorizontal angle and shoulder sagittal posture between carrying backpack and without backpack (p = 0.153 and 0.272) respectively. There was a significant decrease in the craniovertebral angle in carrying backpack than without backpack (p = 0.032). There was a significant increase in GRFs values in carrying backpack than without backpack (p < 0.032).

Carrying backpack with a load 7.5% of the child's body weight alters the head posture and GRFs values.