Supporting your back

As a parent, you are always looking out for your child’s health and making

sure they get the best they possibly can. You make sure you choose the right

day care, the right school, and keep an eye on the friends they choose to play

with to keep them out of trouble. While you are ensuring your child has the

happiest childhood possible, don’t forget the little things that may hinder their

health along the way. It has been discussed in a New York Times article that

children are carrying a higher weight amount in their backpacks than they should

be. Children that are carrying more than 15% of their body weight in their

backpack are setting themselves up to acquire a back problem easier than

others. If a child weighs around 85 pounds, they shouldn’t be carrying more than

12 pounds in their backpack, and when you add textbooks, extra clothes, and

items for after school activities, those 12 pounds gets filled quickly.

There are alternatives to look into to help with this issue that may be

easily overlooked. You could purchase a roller backpack for your child that allows

for more room and easier time transporting items around. You could also look

into renting or purchasing copies of their current textbooks your child does not

have to physically carry so many books home. With technology today, many

schools are choosing books that are available on other devices such as

electronic reading devices, or that can be shared online. This is also to help bring

down the cost schools have to pay every year for new edition textbooks.

A way to make sure that your child is properly taken care of, you need to

have them examined by a doctor regularly and often. Most schools have a

requirement of how many physicals a child must have within a year in order to

keep them eligible to attend school. By having your child examined, you can

make sure they don’t have any back problems that could lead to spine

degeneration or bone spurs in the future. Spine degeneration is caused when

a person’s day to day activities cause wear and tear on your spine’s invertebral

discs and eventually break them down. In order to correct this issue, the

treatment options are physical therapy, bed rest, or epidural steroid injections to

help control the pain.

Bone spurs are caused by a growth formed on the bone and even though

it’s usually a smooth growth, it does cause pain if it begins to touch ligaments,

nerves, or tendons. These can usually be found in areas such as the shoulders,

spine, hands, hips, knees, and feet. Most bone spurs don’t require treatment if

they don’t hurt you, and a solution for them may be as simple as losing weight,

massaging the bone spur area frequently, or simply resting. By keeping up on

your child’s health, you can help reduce the risk of these problems along with

more to ensure your child has a full and happy childhood.

To read more about how to make sure your child’s back is being taken

care of, please refer to this article

spine degeneration ,bone spurs