In Malaysia, it is common thing to see children carrying a backpack especially during school day. We can tell that their backpacks are heavy because they will bend forward while carrying backpack. Unfortunately, carrying a heavy backpack among schoolchildren has not yet become an issue or concern or threat in Malaysia. In United States, approximately 40 million students carry backpack to school (Pascoe et al., 1999). According to Iyer, it is reported that 6 out of 10 students who participated in ergonomic study conducted, having chronic back pain due to carrying heavy backpacks (Iyer, 2001). In the last few many years, lots of risk factors have been determined as the cause of back pain in children however, school backpack was not included until …show more content…
There was a study conducted by Boston University in which they found that approximately 85% of university students self-report a discomfort and pain associated with backpack usage. The American Occupational Therapy Association Inc. (AOTA) stated that in year 2007, more than 2,000 backpack related injuries treated at hospital emergency rooms, doctor’s offices and clinics in America. They also said that, the cause of body pain or discomfort or fatigue is due to extra pressure exert on the body by carrying heavy backpack, or schoolbag that have shoulder straps without padding. The pain felt by schoolchildren may be described as pins and needles, tingling, stiffness, numbness or tightness.
1.2. Problem Statement
Musculoskeletal Disorders are result from exposure to multiple risk factors that can cause the disorders. Pain, numbness, tingling, stiff joints, muscle loss, paralysis are examples of health conditions causes by MSDs. Patient of MSDs take time to recover and some never regain full health. MSDs occur when physical abilities of person (in this case, schoolchildren), do not match the physical requirements of the job or activities. As stated above, children tend to develop MSDs problem when they are: Using lots of