OTA Club Urges, 'Pack It Light, Wear It Right'
Published 10.14.2004
It's already midterm and the Occupational Therapy Assistant Club asks: Do your neck, back or shoulders hurt yet? Do you know why? It just might be your backpack!
Carrying too much weight or improperly wearing backpacks can cause neck, back and shoulder pain and compromise posture and breathing. The U.S Consumer Product and Safety Commission estimates that, each year, nearly 5,000 emergency-room visits result from injuries related to backpacks and book bags;six out of 10 students report chronic back pain related to heavy backpacks.
Theorganization will participate in the Health Fair from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19, in the Bush Campus Center and will conduct a "weigh-in" to illustrate how heavy your backpack is.Members alsowill provide information on proper techniques to pack and wear backpacks. The OTA Club is sponsoring the event in honor of the American Occupational Therapy Association's "Backpack Awareness Day," which was held Sept. 22. Occupational Therapy practitioners from across the country weighed backpacks, highlighting the large number of students who carry more than the recommended load in their packs and then demonstrated ways to lighten the load.
Occupational therapy assistants work in a variety of settings serving individuals with physical, psychosocial or developmental disorders. They work to promote, reinforce, restore or maintain health through the use of purposeful activity. Stop by and letthem weigh your backpack and pick up a handout for tips to "Pack It Light, Wear It Right" at the Health Fair.