Both elementary and high school students have to carry loads of textbooks, school supplies, and sports uniforms and shoes every day. And the health, safety of the child and his ability to withstand the loads of a modern school will depend on how correctly the school bag is chosen.
Type of school bag
For younger schoolchildren, orthopedists do not recommend using a satchel with one strap to carry accessories. This product places a one-sided stress on the spine and can cause it to bend with daily use.
A schoolbag and a backpack are united by the presence of a pair of shoulder straps. This allows them to be worn over the shoulders, distributing the load on the spine evenly. The knapsack, in contrast to the backpack, has a square or rectangular shape, a rigid frame, bottom and back. Modern manufacturers also produce models that are a kind of symbiosis of a knapsack and a backpack, which combine all the best qualities of these types of school bags.
Main selection criteria
When choosing a school bag, first of all, you need to pay attention to the presence of an orthopedic back with a pad that softens friction and protects the child's back from the pressure of protruding corners of books and various school supplies. This pad must be breathable to allow air circulation.
It is important that the lower area of the back has the shape of a roller, which creates a kind of lumbar support, on which the main load should fall.
The dense backs of backpacks are most often made of cardboard, the backs of backpacks are made of thin metal. Due to this, the design of the latter becomes somewhat heavier. Despite this, orthopedists recommend purchasing satchels for elementary school students. Their firm back will help your child not to bend their back under the weight of the load and keep it straight. If you will, accompanying the child to class and meeting him, carry his school bag yourself, you can completely get by with a backpack with a medium-hard back.
An empty satchel or backpack should be lightweight. A bag for primary school students should weigh no more than 600 g, for high school students - no more than 700 g. These figures correspond to the weight of a simple bag without orthopedic elements. But the more the product meets the orthopedic requirements, the heavier it will be. At the same time, such a school bag will allow you to carry more weight without harming your health. So, in backpacks without an orthopedic back, weighing up to 0.5 kg, you can carry a load weighing 7% of the weight of the child himself. In a backpack with a compacted back, weighing up to 0.85 kg, you can carry a load, the mass of which is already 10% of the child's weight; and in a knapsack equipped with an orthopedic back and weighing up to 1.5 kg - a load weighing up to 15% of the child's weight.
The width of the bag should not exceed the width of the child's shoulders. Its lower edge should be at the level of the lower back, and the upper edge should be above the shoulder line.
The shape and processing of plastic and metal parts must be performed in such a way that the possibility of injury from them is excluded.
The optimal width of the shoulder straps is 4-8 cm. They should be strong, but not cut into the child's shoulders. For this, the straps are equipped with soft pads. Their length must be adjustable.
