Affiliations: Department of Occupational Therapy, Western Michigan
University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA
Note: [] Address for correspondence: D. Lindstrom Hazel, 147 W. Ridge
Circle, Kalamazoo, MI 49009, USA. Tel.: +1 269 387 7239; Fax: +1 269 387 7262;
E-mail: dhazel@wmich.edu
Abstract: Purpose: A systematic review of the literature between 2003 and 2007
was conducted to explore the questions 1) Are school-aged children actually at
risk for back pain because of carrying backpacks? How much of a load is too
much? 2) Does backpack in adolescence predict back pain in adulthood? 3) Are
there behaviors that lessen/increase the risk of back pain/injury? i.e.
education on how to carry, pack the pack and psychosomatic behaviors? Method: Cochrane Collection, Pub-Med, OTSeeker, PEDro,
FirstSearch Medline, ERIC, General Engineering, Engineering Village2 and Goggle
Scholar were searched with the following keywords in various combinations:
backpack, back pain, load, children, adolescents, pediatrics, and physical
fitness. Sixty-three articles were considered for the study to answer the three
research questions. Each study was analyzed for specific application to the
three questions. Results: Ten articles were analyzed for the first,
epidemiological question, two articles were analyzed for the second long term
health risk question and seven articles were analyzed for the behavioral
question. Conclusion: Weight recommendations and carrying behaviors are
not consistently supported in the recent studies; several studies call for an
examination of psychosomatic behaviors as potential predictors of back pain in
childhood and adolescence.
Keywords: Pediatrics, prevention, children and adolescents
