ABSTRACT
Heavy backpacks have raised extensive discussion among children, parents and health-care professionals about their potential to cause shoulder and back pain and even spine deformity (Mackenzie et al., 2003). The weight of school bags in terms of the percentage of body weight of children has been reported as 17.7 per cent in the United States (Pascoe et al., 1997), 20 per cent in Italy (Negrini and Carabalona, 2002) and 20 per cent in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Society for Child Health and Development, 1988). The heavy loads caused spinal symptoms (Johnson et al., 1995), back pain (Sheir-Neiss et al., 2003), fatigue (Negrini and Carabalona, 2002), breathing restriction (Lai and Jones, 2001) and even acute injuries (Wiersema et al., 2003).
