Comment by belugacat
1 year ago
“Many authors have concluded that the weight of a school backpack should not exceed 10% of the child's body weight”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4564613/#:~:tex....
The average 6 year old weighs 20 kg. The average 10 year old weighs 30kg.
https://www.disabled-world.com/calculators-charts/height-wei...
> However, there is still no clear information about the impact that a school backpack has on the formation of spinal curvature in the sagittal plane in school children.
The next sentence following the stats quoted from the link.
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That paper also finds problems with sitting:
> However, when the child begins to attend school, their time spent in a sitting position is extended, which can result in disorders of posturogenesis.
No 6 year old is lugging around a backpack full books; these are teens we're talking about.
5 kg is only a couple of textbooks. Teens need to pick what books to take home. Obviously digital is free weight, but physical textbooks have a real weight cost, I don’t want my kid going through what I had to go through.
Many experts will tell you walking 30 min a day is "enough exercise" too... I'd be very suspicious of these studies