EFFECTS OF HEAVY BAGS, PLUS DESKS AND POSTURAL VARIATIONS ASSOCIATION WITH LOWER BACK PAIN IN SCHOOL GOING CHILDREN

Abstract

Lower Back Pain in school children is a serious public health problem. Pain reported by children is believed to be from multiple risk factors related to a child’s daily activities. To investigate the effect of heavy bags, plus desks and postural variations in schools of Karachi, and finding association with lower back pain in children. It was a descriptive Cross-sectional study with a sample of 500 school going children aged between 10-13 years, including 241 boys and 259 girls, from three private schools in Karachi. A Questionnaire analyzed by SPSS 17. About 23% reported Lower Back Pain, 41.2% reported Shoulder Pain and 38.6% reported Neck Pain, 24.3% females reported Lower Back Pain as compared to 21.6% in males. Pain was associated with school bag weight greater than 15% of their total body weight, 62.8% children perceive their school bag to be heavy. Shoulder Pain was significantly associated with older ages and lower Body mass index (BMI). Most of the pain was reported in BMI range below 18 kg/m2. 14% students sat hunched on their desks and 65.9% children reported postural discomfort while doing class work. 44.8% children reported postural discomfort while playing out door games. Lower Back Pain in school going children is associated with high school bag weight expressed as percentage of total body weight, older age, female gender and low BMI. The prevalence of lower back pain was lower than that of shoulder pain and neck pain. There was no significant relation between Plus desks and Lower Back Pain