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Backpack Safety

Be sure your child uses both straps to balance the load.

Most school-aged children tote backpacks as the preferred means to transport their books and supplies. Chiropractors around the country are seeing younger and younger patients complaining of back and shoulder pain. Is there a connection?

Backpack Safety International™, an educational program that promotes and delivers guidelines for safe backpack use to administrators, teachers, parents and children, advocates the following four steps to ensure safe backpack use:

  1. Choose right - the backpack should fit between the child’s shoulder blades and waist.

  2. Pack right - The maximum weight of the loaded backpack should not exceed 10 -15 percent of a child’s body weight, so pack wisely.

  3. Lift right - Face the backpack, bend at the knees, lift the backpack with the legs and apply one shoulder strap and then the other.

  4. Wear right – use both shoulder straps and make them snug, but not too tight. Use the waist strap, if available.

Increased awareness and education on this issue seems to be paying off. The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission reported that the number of emergency room visits related to backpack injuries is down from 7,860 to 7,649 over a one-year period.  Previously, the number of cases had risen significantly each year. Increased awareness of this issue may actually be paying off!

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Dr. Sells Asks some important questions of interest to Oklahoma City residents - Chiropractor Oklahoma City Dr. Sells Asks...

Why does chiropractic work?
Chiropractic works because your nervous system, consisting of your brain, spinal cord and all the nerves of your body, controls and regulates every cell, tissue, organ and system of your body. A chiropractor locates and reduces areas of nervous system compromise (usually along the spine) so your capacity to heal is restored. Chiropractic works by helping your body work as it was designed.
What is the purpose of pain?
Pain prompts many Oklahoma City folks to begin chiropractic care. But pain isn't the problem! Pain is just how your body alerts you that a limit has been reached (or exceeded), that something isn't working right and that some type of change is needed. As a chiropractor, my job is finding the underlying cause and recommending the changes needed to bring your body back into balance.