“Pack it light, wear it right.”

From Jennifer Bush, BS, MOTS ’15

To highlight backpack awareness day (Sept. 17) and for my advocacy assignment in my O.T. Administration and Management course, I organized a backpack awareness event with the help of members of the Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association as well as Elizabethtown College students. To spread the word about our event and to raise awareness about backpack ergonomics, I created a flyer with the location date and time. The flyer was sent to local schools in the Lancaster County area; some schools posted the flyer on their website while others disseminated printed copies to students. Daniel Panchik, who teaches Kinesiology for the occupational therapy department, lent us posters that his students created about backpack awareness, and we displayed the posters on our information table.

We gathered at the Park City Mall on September 21st to teach school-aged children about backpack ergonomics. School-age children passing by were invited to our table to learn how to wear their backpacks safely.

• Each child was asked to take a backpack quiz, which included true and false statements and multiple choice questions about backpack ergonomic strategies and backpack injury statistics. We reviewed the correct answers with each student and gave explanations for the answers.
• After the quiz, the children were asked to step on a scale to determine their weight so they could calculate how much their backpack should weigh. We showed them how to use a calculator to figure out 10% and helped them to calculate the safest weight for their backpacks.
• The child then had an opportunity to fill a backpack full of books to try to get it to weigh exactly 10% of their weight. As each child filled the backpack, my helpers and I reminded them of tips and strategies for the best way for them to pack their bag and the best way to adjust the backpack to their bodies. When each child got their backpack to weigh exactly 10% of their weight, we asked them to remember what this bag feels like on their back and to never pack a backpack heavier than that.
• We also handed the bags to parents to feel and asked them to remind their children to weigh their backpacks at home. Afterward, each participant was given handouts about backpack tips and injury statistics, as well as parent handouts about ergonomics for purses, suitcases, and briefcases.

  

We received a great deal of positive feedback and appreciation from both parents and students for holding this event. Almost everyone was surprised at how light their backpack should be in order to be a safe weight. Parents also frequently told stories about having to help their children onto the bus because their bags were so heavy and many students also admitted to experiencing back pain due to heavy backpacks. All of the parents with whom we spoke thanked us for our efforts. Parents and students alike promised that from now on they would “pack it light and wear it right!”