Back to school Backpacks

Backpacks – Children and Back Pain
It is that time again in Olathe, Overland Park, Spring Hill and Leawood, kids are heading back to school.  With kids heading back to school and experiencing a change in routine we often see an increase in kids experiencing neck and back pain.  We know that the change in routine, increased time sitting in desks and starting back up with school sports can attribute to back and neck pain, but often we overlook one of the biggest causes, Backpacks.   Public health experts have recognized for many years that excessively heavy backpacks can cause back and neck pain in children. heavy bagThree new studies have recently been published on this issue, and they shed some light on prevention of back pain in children.
Physical and Psychological Factors in Children with Back Pain
This British study1 was designed to examine ergonomic and other factors that might account for back and neck pain in schoolchildren.
The authors gave questionnaires to 697 children aged 11-14. Of these students, 27% reported having neck pain, 18% reported having upper back pain, and 22% reported having low back pain.
After analysis of the collected data, the authors found the following:
• Neck pain was linked to school furniture, emotional and conduct problems, family history of low back pain and previous treatment for musculoskeletal disorders.
• Upper back pain was associated with backpack weight, school furniture, emotional problems, and previous treatment of musculoskeletal pain.
• Low back pain complaints were associated with school furniture, emotional issues, and “family history and previous injury or accident.”

Effects of Backpack Weight on Posture
This Italian study2 looked at 43 students with an average age of 12.5 years. The authors tested each of the children with an 8-kg and 12-kg backpack, and they had the children wear them over one shoulder and two shoulders. Posture was evaluated on the children while they did a 7-minute treadmill walk.
The authors found that the posture of the children was substantially altered under load. Not surprisingly, asymmetrical loading (carrying the backpack on one shoulder rather than both), resulted in the most complex postural changes.
“Our results suggest that a 12 kg load, fairly common in this population (carried at least once a week), seems to push the postural system to its physiological limits.” 2
They found that the postural changes were corrected once the load was removed, but the long-term consequences of these excessive weights are unknown.
Limit Backpack Weight to 10% of Child’s Body Weight

backpackIn the third report,3 the researchers interviewed 531 children from 5th to 12th grade and weighed the backpack of each student. The found that:
• “Younger students and females are more at risk due to relatively lower body weight…”
• Female students carried heavier backpacks than did male students.
• “Greater relative backpack weight is associated with upper– and mid–back pain reports but not neck or lower back pain; it is also associated with lost school time, lost school sports time, and greater chiropractic utilization.”
The authors of this study recommend that backpacks weigh no more than 10% of the child’s body weight, which is lower than the current recommendation of 15%. Previous studies have found that students often carry between 17-22% of their body weight. 2
From these studies, it’s clear that a significant number of children suffer from neck and back pain. Because a substantial portion of these complaints may originate in backpack usage, it is critical when dealing with children with neck and back pain to ask about backpack usage. Musculoskeletal pain in children is especially a concern since it has been associated with pain in adulthood.
1. Murphy S, Buckle P, Stubbs D. A cross-sectional study of self-reported back and neck pain among English schoolchildren and associated physical and psychological risk factors. Applied Ergonomics 2007;38(6):797-804.
2. Negrini S, Negrini A. Postural effects of symmetrical and asymmetrical loads on the spines of schoolchildren. Scoliosis 2007;2(1):8.
3. Moore MJ, White GL, Moore DL. Association of Relative Backpack Weight With Reported Pain, Pain Sites, Medical Utilization, and Lost School Time in Children and Adolescents. Journal of School Health 2007;77(5):232-239. Foster Family Chiropractic

Performance Enhancing Chiropractic

keeping you moving towards your goals

keeping you moving towards your goals

Many athletes in Olathe and Overland Park use chiropractic to recover from injury or difficult training.  However, with regular chiropractic care these athletes could also benefit in enhancing performance.  This added benefit is nothing new to those in high level professional and college sports as they have been consistently using chiropractic care to enhance performance for well over 10 years.  From professional golfers like Zach Johnson (whose father is a Chiropractor) Jordan Spieth (who thanked his chiropractor after winning the masters) to NFL football teams (who all have Chiropractors on staff) the performance enhancing benefits received from chiropractic and an optimally communicating nervous system is well understood. It always amazes me that 85-100% of professional athletes use chiropractic care for top performance, injury prevention and treatment while only 8-10% of American adults and 3-5% of American kids have had an adjustment in the last year.  Clearly the message has not been delivered to the masses.  The same way that an adjustment can rid you of a headache and enhance your ability to heal from back pain, it can also enhance performance and functioning of any joint, muscle, tendon, ligament, tissue, organ or system that is innervated by a nerve(even your immune system is directly nerve connected) or needs motion.  You are an expression of your nervous system, you need it optimally functioning to perform at your best no matter what the task.

A new award-winning study supports what these high level athletes have known for years; chiropractic can improve performance.  In this study, researchers examined the effects of chiropractic on 18 professional judo athletes in Brazil. Half of the athletes received chiropractic adjustments and the other half received a sham treatment. Researchers then evaluated athletes’ grip strength using a device that measures muscle force.

Despite the fact that both groups maintained their regular training schedules throughout the study, the chiropractic group had substantially better outcomes. After just three treatments, the chiropractic group improved their grip strength by 11% on the left side and 17% on their right, while athletes in the sham treatment group had only improved by 4-6%.

This study is more evidence that chiropractic improves nervous system functioning, which in turn strengthens muscles.

Whether it’s injury prevention or enhancing peak performance, chiropractic care can play a vital role in keeping your nervous system working efficiently and optimally.  Everyone can benefit from regular chiropractic care.

You don’t have to be a professional athlete to benefit from chiropractic.

Call our office today to see how we can help.

ProCARE Chiropractic Acupuncture and Rehabilitation
913 393 1303

Botelho MB, Andrade BB. Effect of cervical spine manipulative therapy on judo athletes’ grip strength. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2012;35(11):38-44.
Chiropractic Nexus

Preventing Weeds in Olathe/Overland Park

ProCARE Chiropractic and Acupuncture preventing health weeds from growing in Overland Park and Olathe

ProCARE Chiropractic and Acupuncture preventing health weeds from growing in Overland Park and Olathe

Prevent Your Health Weeds

Every Spring/summer  residence of Overland Park and Olathe make their way to the lawn care stores and hire lawn service crews to tend to their lawns.  Johnson county is out in full force laying down pre-emergents and fertilizers in their best efforts to prevent unwanted weeds that harm the health and look of their lawns.  But, are we treating our bodies and health with as much respect for prevention?  or, are we letting our bodies become ridden with weeds that are sure to create future health problems.  This same analogy can be observed with most things of value in life, from cars and finances to houses and smiles/teeth. Most of us apply this “preventive principle” to everything of value in our lives–EXCEPT OUR HEALTH and certainly not our joints and nervous system.   Ask yourself these questions:  What am I, family, friends and co-workers doing to prevent unwanted “health weeds” this summer?  What am I doing to prevent the health of my joints from decaying?  What am I doing to enhance my adaptive ability and nervous system health? Today, what did I do to improve my health? 

Clearly the most valuable thing we can own is good health, just ask anyone who has major health issues.  I always find it ironic that the one thing that should be of most value to us is the one thing that is often put on the back burner and neglected.  People constantly make decisions about their health and well-being based on short term finances and not on the long term.  For example, someone might decide not to join a gym or see a chiropractor because of the monthly investment, but yet forget to look long term at the cost of decreased mobility, strength, joint motion, arthritis, bone density, diabetes, heart disease…. Just like the old saying goes “those that elect to spend their health to gain wealth will end up spending their wealth to later try to regain their health.”
Waiting until you MUST do something is always more costly and time consuming than preventive measures.   Don’t wait for a crisis, think of maintaining, preventing, improving and maximizing instead of reacting, masking, treating and killing disease and symptoms.

Consult an Expert  Just as you should consult a financial adviser if you inherited a large sum of money, create a team of trusted professionals that can help maximize your health. ( We have links to a few trusted health partners on our website but their are hundreds more out there and we are happy to help you build a team.  Read our blogs and facebook posts, ask us exercise and nutrition questions.)
When you are feeling and functioning well is the best time to see a Chiropractor and get expert advise on your health and that of your joints and nervous system. Have a regular check up for you and your family it could be the best investment you could ever make.

We are here to help and serve in any way we can.