Pediatric Clinic Will Hold School Backpack 'Weigh-In' Sept. 17

Caption: National School Backpack Awareness Day falls on Sept. 17. American Occupational Therapy Association says kids should only be carrying 10 percent of their body weight in their backpacks.

Treehouse Pediatric Therapy announced today that it is partnering with the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) to conduct a backpack awareness day on Sept. 17 to educate children, parents, school administrators, teachers, and communities about the serious health effects on children from backpacks that are too heavy or worn improperly. This local event is part of the National School Backpack Awareness Day, being held by occupational therapy practitioners across the country.

A Backpack Awareness Day “Weigh-In” will educate school-aged students and their families to help illustrate the amount of weight that school children should be carrying on their backs to and from school each day. Occupational therapy practitioners and therapy students will weigh backpack-wearing students arriving at Treehouse Pediatric Therapy.

The event will take place at 3351 Hobson Road, Suite B, in Woodridge, from 3 to 6 p.m. Sept. 17.

More than 79 million children and young adults in the U.S. carry heavy loads back and forth to school every day. Experts estimate that about 55 percent of them will be carrying too much weight. Research also shows children carrying overloaded and improperly worn packs are likely to experience neck, shoulder, and back pain; adverse effects on posture and the developing spine; and compromised breathing and fatigue. Some of these injuries continue into adulthood.

AOTA recommends that school backpacks weigh only 10 percent of a child’s body weight. The growing awareness of potential long-term problems to children has resulted in increased medical research, and more coverage of the issue in mainstream publications as well as medical journals.

Any further inquiries can be directed to Deb Zeitlin, MS, OTR/L. Zeitlin is an expert on healthy growth and development of school-age children. She will be coordinating the “weigh-in” activities at Treehouse Pediatric and will be available to answer any questions. You can reach Zeitlin at the clinic by calling 630-541-3652.