United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

You students out there:

What do you do about bookbags for heavy school books? Help, quick!!

Ellen

Leave 'em in your locker. Only carry the ones you need right now !

backpack

Ellen, I have used a backpack ad carried it on my back, with both shoulders, but it really got to be a pin in the arse! Now I just use a shoulder bag, wear it over my right shoulder(bpi side) then the bag is on my left hip so that i can get into it easily! Hope this helps!

I do agree with Jacko though, leave them in the locker if you can! In college we dont have lockers!

Court xo

Hi Ellen,

Eric used kind of a briefcase style with shoulder strap. I'm not sure exactly how it worked out but I think better than the traditional style.

P.S. Did you ever get a copy of John's surgery back? I didn't respond because we don't have DVD version and I think that's what you were looking for.

Grade School: Ask the teacher if there is extra books. Leave one in the class, and bring the other set home. Use the bookbag for lighter stuff like notebooks etc...

What about using a rolling bookbag? Kind of like the suitcases with wheels? It seemed like that is what everybody used at my son's school last year!

Tanya in NY

We were told by our daughter's surgeon that NO ONE should carry a backpack--it's just not good for your back or shoulders because people don't actually wear them properly (with the weight distribution and the straps pulled correctly, etc.

He suggested we get the rolling backpacks and that is what we did (for both of our children).

I agree with this also--backpacks, unless very light, hurt my back and shoulders.

Peggy

Back packs aren't really a good idea...as Peggy says, no one seems to know how to pack 'em properly (getting the weight distribution right is pretty crucial..)I usually use a very large bag with a flap that covers the whole thing, wear it across the front of my body...I only use this for pretty light stuff tho; anything heavy goes into the trolley type bag. You can get some really trendy looking ones now that don't make you look like an old granny doing the shopping! ;0)

Lizzy B

Whoa, thank you everybody! Obviously a LOT of people have this problem. In high school, John does have lockers but there is enough distance getting from his car to the building that I'm concerned about what he's doing to his good shoulder & back with the bookbag. (Last year he ended up with enough back pain he had ongoing visits with our chiropractor.) John ABSOLUTELY refuses to even consider the rolling thingie which I personally think makes the most sense. (Can anyone knock some sense into him???)

We had thought the 2nd set of heavy books was the solution last year - but all John's notes, highlighted sections, etc from class end up being in the book he needs to study from at home.

School starts next week so stay tuned! Thanks again for your input.

Ellen