Musculoskeletal pain and school bag use: a cross-sectional study among Ugandan pupils

Abstract

BackgroundThough seen as a convenient method of carrying books and other scholastic materials including food items, schoolbags are believed to contribute to back and other musculoskeletal problems in school going children. This study set out to determine the prevalence of low back and other musculoskeletal pains and describe their relationship with schoolbag use in pupils.ResultsThis was a cross-sectional descriptive study involving 532 pupils from six primary schools with a mean age of 13.6 years. Analyses included the chi- square test, independent t tests, regression analysis and test for trend across ordered groups.Backpacks were the most common type of schoolbag and younger children carried disproportionately heavier bags. Urban pupils were younger, carried significantly heavier bags, and less likely to complain about schoolbag weight than the rural pupils,About 30.8% of the pupils carried schoolbags which were more than 10% of their body weight. About 88.2% of pupils reported having body pain especially in the neck, shoulders and upper back. About 35.4% of the children reported that carrying the schoolbag was the cause of their musculoskeletal pain. The prevalence of lower back pain was 37.8%. There was significant association between low back pain and; method of bag carriage (p < 0.0001), long duration of walking (odds ratio 2.67, 95% CI 1.38- 5.16) and the time spent sitting after school (p = 0.02). Only 19% had lockers at school.ConclusionUrban pupils were younger, carried significantly heavier bags, and less likely to complain about schoolbag weight than the rural pupils. The majority of pupils complained of musculoskeletal pain of which 35.4% was attributed to the schoolbags.The prevalence of lower back pain was 37.8%. Schools need to provide lockers and functional libraries in order to avoid excessive loading and repetitive strain injuries.

School Bag Usage, Postural and Behavioral Habits and Its Effect on Back Pain Occurrence Among School Children

“…Students who spent eight or more hours per day in sedentary activities had approximately three times more likely to suffer from back pain than those spent five hours or less per day. This result was in agreement with [38] they assessed musculoskeletal pain and school bag use Effect on Back Pain Occurrence Among School Children among Ugandan pupils. They showed that there was a significant correlation between the time pupils spent sitting and the occurrence of back pain.…”

“…This findings was supported by the results of other studies [43,45,46] revealed that longer periods of time spent carrying a school bag each day influences cervical, shoulder and lumbar posture and could contribute to the musculoskeletal pain. Likewise, a study conducted by [38] revealed that the duration of time spent by the children carrying their school bags had a significant positive correlation with the occurrence of reported back pain. As regards perception of schoolbag weight in the present study, schoolchildren who reported that their school bags heavy were 2.4 times more likely to suffer from back pain than school children who were not having this feeling This result was in line with [35] that confirmed a significant association between reported weight of the backpack and pain.…”

“…Also, Ibrahim et al [37] they found back pain in about two thirds, shoulder pain in more than half and neck pain in about half. Another study by [38] found majority of pupils reported pain especially in the shoulders, followed by upper back, lower back and neck. In Egypt, a study conducted among elementary school children in Assiut city by [39] found two thirds of student had low back pain followed by shoulder pain.…”

Guidelines for schoolbag carriage: An appraisal of safe load limits for schoolbag weight and duration of carriage

“…Schoolbag weight and duration of carriage have been investigated within the same studies, but independent of each other [1,4,24,[26][27][28]. However fundamental biomechanical principles of load and energy consumption suggest that schoolbag weight, and the exposure to that weight, should be investigated in combination with each other in order to acquire a measure of the mechanical burden that results from carrying a schoolbag.…”

“…Although the duration of carriage has been reported [1,4,20,[23][24][25][26][27][28], the systematic assessment of the utility of cut-off values for duration of carriage in identifying schoolbag-related discomfort has not been undertaken.…”