United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

How meny Pounds sould Angel (ROBPI, 7 years old, 1st grade) carry in a backpack?

Maia has a shoulder sling backpack (diagonal) and she carries a lunch bag and her homework folder.

She has a full set of books at home and at school - so she never has to carry any of them back and forth. It was written into her IEP and now is in her 504 plan. Do you have an IEP or a 504 plan? Talk to the school about it.

Amber has always used a rolling backpack. She longs to carry it like "all the other kids" but we wanted to make sure she started using it while young so it's habitual to use it rather than it being a change when she gets older. She's only in 2nd grade, so no big books to be traveling back and forth yet. Think back to when you had to carry books in school...heavy! Get a 2nd set of books at home so just notebooks need to be transported back and forth.

Tanya in NY
Amber's Mom, ROBPI, 7 years old

wow maia sure has grown into a lovly girl this past year
anyhow, our school has a policy for no rolling book bags, dumb huh
we have an IEP but teacher has not follewed it, says Angel is not carry anything but 2 floders (the floder have alot of paers and 3 small book and some time a 3rd floder weight was about 3.8 pounds (angel says it hurts though)
she is in 1st grade so no main books yet. but yes we have an IEP but no 504 school said she didn't need one.

10% of the child's weight, but if the child has BPI, well.....our doctor says nothing. That is impossible....so we have a set of books at home, and Brandon carries nothing but folders. NOT FOLLOWING IEP is bad, call a meeting, let them know you will hire an advocate if necessary !!! WE just got our 504 in place last year, Brandon is in 6th grade. He really didn't need one before now, but I fought for everything even without one. Now that he is going to middle school next year, I got one so I don't have issues. He carries a messenger style bag, hates a rolling book bag. He plays the drums, but I usually take him and pick him up on those days, but the case does roll. Just watch out, because you really have to stay on them so that they don't "FORGET" about the IEP !!!
Gayle

all these things that i never knew could've been done to help me out... i used to carry a FULL backpack around high school (5- 6 books and notebooks for each class) sometimes... depending on when i could get to my locker... we only had 4 minutes in between each class... so i couldnt walk across the school and switch books without being late... college was easier, i only really lugged around notebooks, and the occasional book. i wore a normal 2 strap backpack, had to make sure nobody was around me when i put it on or i may knock them over! i have to swing it completely around to get it on... so yeah, wish i could've worked out the 2 sets of books thing, that would have made my life easier!! *grumble, grumble*

I was one of those kids that had to lug big heavy text books around. It did not help my overuse nor my pain issues when I was a child.

I think backpack should not be put on ANY CHILD never mind obpi children. I was driving my 8 year old granddaughter to school and she is bent over trying to carry her books! This is so unnecessary and I think it's bad for their necks and backs. As far as rolling bags many schools will not allow them in school or on buses. Something should be done about the amount of books children are carrying. Maybe it's time for this issued to addressed as an important physical health problem.
I think many children will be having back problems due to the weight they are carrying on a daily basis.

Jumping off my soap box. I tried to carry some of the backpacks my grandchildren carry and just could not manage the weight. grrrrrrr.

As an OT student, I have volunteered for backpack awareness the last two years and have learned that a backpack should never weigh more than 15% of a child's body weight. Try to stay far under the 15% mark. To calculate have the child wear the backpack and step on the scale. Take the backpack off and read the scale again. Take the weight with the backpack and subtract the weight without. Say the child weights 70 lbs with the backpaack and 58 without. Take 70-58=12. Then take the difference and divide it by the weight without the backpack and that will give you a decimal multiply by 100 to get a percentage. So this example would be 12/58=.206896551x100=20.7%

That is too much in that backpack!!!!! A child weighing 58lbs should not have a backpack heaverier than 8.7lbs

Its important to consider the consequences of all types of backpacks instead of assuming one style is better than another.
A rolling backback can contribute to overuse and upper traps being sore.
A messenger bag can stress out either shoulder because the weight is not distrubuted evenly.
A two strap shoulder strap backpack can irritate scars or put a lot of weight on a malformed shoulder. If you have doubts which is the safest for your child, ask your child's occupational therapist!

Hope this helps,
Amy 22 years old ROBPI from MN (occupational therapy student)

wow thanks for all the help :0) also thanks amy for something extra on the info i can take to the school.
you all are great!

BUMPING UP.
Carolyn J