Body ache and pain in school children associated with school bag carriage in Multan - Pakistan

ABSTRACT

In Pakistan anecdotal evidence of shoulder, back pain in school children is alarming but no scientific studies have been carried out yet. This study was carried out to find out any association between pain and school bag carriage in students, since almost all school management including public and private in Pakistan putting extra loads on the children in the form of heavy school bags. Children and in the phase of growth and development. So there is continuous endanger of growth and developmental retardation due to growth due to pulling heavy school bags load not only but also some sort of body aches and pains occur. This study was carried at four different schools in Multan. Schools were selected by convenience sampling. Two hundred children between the ages of 11 and 14 years correctly filled out a questionnaire with open ended and closed ended questions. Each child also had his/her body and bag weight measures. In this study, most of the children experienced shoulder and a combination of shoulder and other bodily pain. The majority of the children carried school bags over two shoulders. The type of bag carried was significantly related to pain experienced. A significantly larger number of female students experienced pain. The shoulder and other bodily pain experienced by the students are strongly related to the type of bag and the gender of the children