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Rising school standards mean more books and notebooks at an earlier grade. School choice at the middle-school level has some students traveling longer from home to school and back. Aging school buildings lack lockers to hold materials.
It all adds up to more weight on the shoulders of middle-schoolers. Next time you see a pre-teen walking to or from school, check out what they’re carrying: Chances are its bulk and weight will exceed what you remember hauling at that age.
As the students in the Bronx Media Lab at M.S. 244 in Kingsbridge Terrace learned, that burden is more than an annoyance. At its extreme, it could be a health risk.
Watch their report below. And if you think your public middle-schooler hauls too much heft, snap a picture of their pack and send it to us.
1 Comment
Kate Mourning
The most serious problem that can arise while wearing a heavy knapsack is the deformation of the spine. The most common problem is that it affects the spine. In connection with the fact that the child’s bones are not yet very strong and the muscular apparatus of the spine is not as strong as adult`s. Child will have an incorrect posture when carrying such a large weight. This leads to the formation of scoliosis.
In addition, heavy backpacks cause the child to walk in the wrong posture. Because of this, the diaphragm presses in the abdomen, and internal organs suffer, there is tension in the intestine and liver. Often internal organs – liver, spleen, intestines – descend.