Prof Weighs In on Backpack Pounds
With National School Backpack Awareness Day, Sargent Prof Karen Jacobs teaches children to carry their packs properly.
It’s a clear sign of fall: schoolchildren lugging bulging backpacks home every day. But carrying such heavy loads can have long-term effects on a child’s health, says Karen Jacobs, a Sargent College clinical professor of occupational therapy, who is helping the children at one local school learn to carry their backpacks properly and educating parents about the amount of weight children can safely carry.
Jacobs, who has conducted years of research on the health effects of backpack use, will be at St. Mary of the Assumption School in Brookline, Mass., today for a backpack “weigh-in.” Students from Sargent’s occupational therapy program will be on hand to help the children weigh their backpacks and to answer questions about proper use. The American Occupational Therapy Association recommends that school backpacks tip the scales at no more than 15 percent of a child’s weight. Overloaded backpacks can cause fatigue, as well as neck, shoulder, and back pain. They also can have adverse effects on breathing, on posture, and on a child’s developing spine.
A professor at Sargent since 1983, Jacobs was recognized earlier this year by the National Women’s Hall of Fame for her contributions to the field of occupational therapy.