Journal d'ergonomie
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A Study on Postural Analysis among School Going Students with Respect to School Bag Weight in Nagpur City

Tulika A. Khare, Zeenat Farheen

Children undergo rapid musculoskeletal development; the external force of a heavy school bag may cause musculoskeletal disorders. Children use school bags to carry their study material. Along with it play kits, tiffin baskets and much other stuff are carried in the bags, making it heavier. These loads on child’s back arises risk of developing backpack syndrome. Bag weight therefore should be reduced, it is said that a school bag should not weight more than 10 – 15 % of child’s body weight. The current study was to determine musculoskeletal pain among school going girls, to check the anthropometric measurements and to examine their physical fitness. A survey cum experiment method was used to collect data. According to the findings, 38% respondents carried a bag weighing 5 kg and only 1% of the respondents carried a bag weighing 2 kg to 3kg each day. Respondent’s minimum weight (kg) was 25kg and maximum weight was 63kg. Guidelines and recommendations were provided to reduce load of heavy bag on back. The use of heavy school bags are predictors for musculoskeletal problems and disorders, therefore, there is a need to investigate further.