Evaluation Of Postural Changes In School-Going Children With Straps In Traditional Backpack

Abstract

Background: Backpacks commonly contribute to musculoskeletal issues and postural changes in school children. The purpose of the current study was to see the postural alteration with and without adjustable chest and waist straps in traditional backpack. 

Method: This study was conducted on 61 healthy adolescents (Age- 12–14 years, Male=42, Female=19). There were four experimental conditions: no backpack (unloaded), backpack with 15 % of body weight in three conditions (loaded) no straps, with chest strap only and with waist and chest strap respectively. Sagittal plane photographs were taken in unloaded and standing posture under the three experimental conditions after placing anatomical markers. In posture analysis cranio-vertebral angle (CVA), forward trunk lean angle (FTLA), pelvic tilt angle (PTA) and sagittal shoulder posture angle (SSPA) were calculated using a software (AutoCAD 2016). The statistical software SPSS version 16 was used to obtain results. The differences between conditions were determined using repeated measure analysis of variance models (ANOVA) with p<0.05 considered significant.

Results: All the 4 angles changed significantly in loaded conditions when compared with unloaded condition (p value = 0.01). However, there was no significant change within the loaded conditions.  The SSPA was found to alter significantly with addition of both waist strap and chest strap combined as compared to chest strap alone with a mean difference of 4.3⁰ (p value = 0.01) .

Conclusion: Carrying backpack changes all the postural angles. Shoulder posture measured with SSPA reduced when both straps were tied. However other angles did not change significantly with addition of straps.