Most of us carry a bag every day, be it a school bag, sports bag or hand bag. Nowadays we seem to carry everything around with us, adding additional weight to our bodies and spine.
Knowing how much you should be carrying and the best possible way to carry your bags can help prevent severe back problems.
Your spine has four natural curves. You must aim to maintain these curves at all time to prevent damage to your spine.
• Only carry what you need! This mainly applies to women...we tend to carry our purse, phone, keys, sunglasses, our whole make up bag, hairbrush, diary, bottle of water etc....do you actually use all these things every day?!
• If you need to carry more things then invest in a good back pack. Use both shoulder straps and make sure the bag is not resting on your bottom!
• When putting a back pack on place it on a table and put it on one strap at a time
• Carry the heaviest items closest to your body
• Do not carry more than 15% of your body weight
• Get backpacks with wider, padded shoulder straps as well as back padding
Your Weight Maximum you should carry
9 Stone - 1.4 Stone
10 ½ Stone - 1.5 Stone
12 Stone - 1.7 Stone
13 ½ Stone - 2 Stone
Source: www.bcchiro.com
 |
Do not wear your back pack like this. It is far too low and increases the curvature in your lumbar spine. This places pressure on your delicate spinal joints and nerves potentially leading to back pain. The straps will also dig into your shoulders. |
 |
This is the correct way to wear your backpack. The load is transferred through the upper body and the spine had maintained the correct curves. |
Dr Gemma Bailey
BSc (Hons) Chiro
No comments:
Post a Comment