School kids are damaging their backs by carrying heavy rucksacks, a report has found.
The most commonly-diagnosed conditions are scoliosis, or curvature of the spine, followed by lower back pain and involuntary muscle contractions.
The Archives of Disease in Childhood report found many teens carry rucksacks which top 15% of their body weight.
The authors said: "Many children transport excessively loaded backpacks, an excess which would not be allowed for workers in employment.
“We strongly encourage the medical and educational community to start advising parents and school children about the risks posed by heavy school bags and the fact this risk can be easily reduced.”
Experts at the University of Santiago de Compostela, La Coruna, Spain, analysed the back health of 1403 pupils aged between 12 and 17 from 11 schools.
The teens were weighed twice, with and without the rucksacks they carry to school.
Their height was taken, along with information about their lifestyle, exercise levels and any underlying health problems.
The experts found around nine in 10 teens carried a two-strap rucksack weighing 7kg on average to school.Six in 10 carried backpacks exceeding 10% of their body weight, while one in five wore a rucksack that topped 15% of their own weight.
One in four had suffered back pain for more than 15 days in the previous year.
Those teens whose rucksacks were among the top 25% in weight were 50% more likely to have back pain for in excess of 15 days than those whose backpacks weighed the least.
Seven in 10 of those with a diagnosed back condition suffered scoliosis.
The authors pointed out previous research also linked rucksacks to altered gait and posture which could cause lasting damage.
They said: “These biomechanical alterations could induce the appearance of chronic pain and back pathologies in the long term."
They urged doctors and teachers to start advising parents and children on the risks of carrying heavy bags to school every day.
About Dr Kevin Lau
Dr Kevin Lau DC is the founder of Health In Your Hands, a series of tools for Scoliosis prevention and treatment. The set includes his book Your Plan for Natural Scoliosis Prevention and Treatment, a companion Scoliosis Exercises for Prevention and Correction DVD and the innovative new iPhone application ScolioTrack. Dr Kevin Lau is a graduate in Doctor of Chiropractic from RMIT University in Melbourne Australia and Masters in Holistic Nutrition. He is a member of International Society On Scoliosis Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Treatment (SOSORT), the leading international society on conservative treatment of spinal deformities. In 2006 I was awarded the "Best Health-care Provider Awards" by the largest Newspaper publication in Singapore on October 18 2006 as well as being interviewed on Primetime Channel News Asia as well as other TV and Radio. For more information on Dr Kevin Lau, watch his interviews or get a free sneak peek of his book, go to: http://www.hiyh.info.School kids are damaging their backs by carrying heavy rucksacks, a report has found.
The most commonly-diagnosed conditions are scoliosis, or curvature of the spine, followed by lower back pain and involuntary muscle contractions.
The Archives of Disease in Childhood report found many teens carry rucksacks which top 15% of their body weight.
The authors said: "Many children transport excessively loaded backpacks, an excess which would not be allowed for workers in employment.
“We strongly encourage the medical and educational community to start advising parents and school children about the risks posed by heavy school bags and the fact this risk can be easily reduced.”
Experts at the University of Santiago de Compostela, La Coruna, Spain, analysed the back health of 1403 pupils aged between 12 and 17 from 11 schools.
The teens were weighed twice, with and without the rucksacks they carry to school.
Their height was taken, along with information about their lifestyle, exercise levels and any underlying health problems.
The experts found around nine in 10 teens carried a two-strap rucksack weighing 7kg on average to school.Six in 10 carried backpacks exceeding 10% of their body weight, while one in five wore a rucksack that topped 15% of their own weight.
One in four had suffered back pain for more than 15 days in the previous year.
Those teens whose rucksacks were among the top 25% in weight were 50% more likely to have back pain for in excess of 15 days than those whose backpacks weighed the least.
Seven in 10 of those with a diagnosed back condition suffered scoliosis.
The authors pointed out previous research also linked rucksacks to altered gait and posture which could cause lasting damage.
They said: “These biomechanical alterations could induce the appearance of chronic pain and back pathologies in the long term."
They urged doctors and teachers to start advising parents and children on the risks of carrying heavy bags to school every day.
energy] in the management of both diseases. Meat is the major source of protein in HP diets and this contributes to increased intake of creatine and creatinine, which can result in increased serum creatinine concentrations. This study evaluated the effect of dietary protein content on renal parameters in 23 healthy spayed female cats. The objective was to determine if cats eating diets high in protein would have higher serum urea nitrogen (UN) and creatinine values without a detectable change in kidney function. The cats were fed in two phases—in the first phase, they were randomly assigned either a (HP) or low protein diet. For the second phase, the cats were fed whichever diet they were not fed in the first phase. Blood and urine samples were collected every 2 weeks during the 10-week long study period. The study results noted that dietary intake could result in statistically significant changes in UN and several other biochemical analytes, although all analytes stayed within normal reference intervals. This information illustrates a need to obtain an accurate dietary history in cat patients in order to account for dietary influences on renal parameters, especially UN. [VT]
An effective treatment could lead to wider awareness of this disorder in cats. This study examined the use of a drug used in humans for acromegaly called octreotide, a somatostin receptor ligand. The researchers found that octreotide appears to be safe in cats, but not all cats benefited from its use. At the dose and duration of treatment these investigators used, octreotide was not found to be therapeutically effective for acromegaly. This study should aid treatment decisions for cats with this condition. [MK]