DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2018.v06i11.075

Pages: 4582-4586

The school bag weight to body weight ratio is likely to be high, as some students are still quite small but carry loads similar to larger and older children. Children carrying this kind of weight are vulnerable to develop serious back pain and other musculoskeletal problems. A case control study was conducted at private schools of the Kakinada city, Andhra Pradesh. Students having back pain or neck pain regularly those were considered as cases. Students who have no back pain and neck pain those were considered as controls. 50 students in each group were taken in to the study. Pre tested semi structured questionnaire were developed to collect the data. Very few studies were conducted in this area. Hence the main objective of this study is to find risk factors of back pain and neck pain in school children. 72% of the students were carrying greater than 15% of the body weight bag, where as in control group it was 30% and the difference between the groups were showing statistical significance. 64% of the students were going by walk with bag, where as in control group it was 42% and the difference between the groups showing statistical significance. Parents, Teachers and Government should take responsibility to reduce the weight of the school bags and mass communications to create awareness among the Parents and Teachers.