September 22, 2003

UAB occupational therapy students will show school children the proper way to load a backpack to minimize injuries, and teach children about weight limits for packs as part of national Backpack Awareness Day, sponsored by the American Occupational Therapy Association and the department of Occupational Therapy in UAB’s School of Health Related Professions (SHRP).

Studies have shown that too much weight in a backpack can cause back and shoulder injuries in children. The American Occupational Therapy Association recommends that a backpack weigh no more than ten percent of a child’s total body weight.

Backpack Awareness Day will be 9 a.m. to noon, Wednesday, September 24, at Mountain Brook Elementary School, 3020 Cambridge Road.

The UAB team will be made up of 2nd year students in the occupational therapy master’s program at SHRP.

The OT students will demonstrate the proper way to pack a backpack to the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students at Mountain Brook Elementary. They will also weigh the student’s backpacks, and determine if the students are carrying too much weight for their size. “It seems every child carries a backpack these days, and a pack that is too heavy or loaded improperly can cause injury or lead to chronic posture problems as a child grows,” says Jan Rowe, MPH, OTR/L, associate professor of occupational therapy at UAB. The students will also demonstrate newer backpack designs that are ergonomically more suitable for growing children. There will be over 300 similar Backpack Awareness Day events in 41 states and several foreign countries, according to the American Occupational Therapy Association.