Does your child walk as if the weight of the world is on their shoulders?

You might want to pay attention.

Local chiropractor Laura Dowling believes that the way students carry their backpacks is setting the stage for back pain and possibly scoliosis.

Think she’s talking guff? A study in Northern Spain of more than 1,400 schoolchildren found that 61 per cent were carrying too much weight on their backs. Experts predicted they had a 50 per cent chance of suffering from back pain and back problems.

A similar study in Italy found that 31 per cent carried too much weight.

Interestingly, girls were more likely to carry too much compared to boys.

“I do see kids coming in to my office with low back pain, upper back pain, and neck pain,” said Dr Dowling. “Some kids have shoulder problems. Some children develop scoliosis.”

Pierre D’Hemecourt, a specialist at Children’s Hospital Boston, spoke of seeing the same problems in a New York Times article.

He warned that children risked suffering stress fractures and back and neck strain and nerve damage because they were carrying too much weight.

According to Dr Dowling, a backpack should weigh no more than ten to 15 per cent of a child’s body weight. Most students here are carrying 20 to 25 per cent, she said.

And because they also have a tendency to carry the bag on one shoulder to look cool, the weight is not evenly distributed.

She often visits schools to talk about the best way to carry a backpack.

“We also talk about how they are using their laptops and smart devices,” she said. “A lot of them go home at the end of the day and lay across their bed or on the floor while they use the laptop. This overextends the lumbar curve and can lead to dysfunction in the lower back.”

Laptops should be placed on a desk and the child should sit in a chair in front of it. The chair should be at a height so that the child can look at it straight on without craning their neck upwards or downwards.

Some parents have dealt with the problem by replacing the child’s backpack with a miniature wheeled suitcase — Dr Dowling didn’t think this was necessarily the answer.

“The wheels and straps on the case can present a tripping hazard to other children,” she said. “The answer is to wear a backpack, make sure it is not overweight and make sure the weight is evenly distributed. The backpack should also be a good fit for the child and shouldn’t come below their bums.”

Dr Dowling said that if a young person was having back pain going to a chiropractor could help.

“They can do exercises that help balance their core muscle groups,” she said. “Balance and coordination exercises are helpful. If you exercise the problem areas without getting a chiropractic alignment you are just strengthening the weakness, you are only making the problem worse. But if you get it aligned properly and then get it strengthened, that’s better overall.”

Laura Dowling is based in the Bermuda Chiropractic Health Centre on Point Finger Road, Paget.