Healthier Backpack Carrying to Get Better Exercise and Stop Back Pain
Frequent news items report that wearing backpacks causes back pain in children and adults. Some of the usual theories proposed for why backpacks cause pain is "overstuffing them" or carrying them too high or low. Complicated and expensive packs are developed as remedies. Another of the often-repeated theories is that carrying things on your back makes you arch your back. However, none of these are the reason for back pain when carrying packs. It is not the pack that causes the pain or the arching. It is a very simple matter of allowing your back to arch and slouch backward instead of standing straight against the load.
Look at the photo, above left, of the backpacker. The upper arrow shows how his upper body is tilting backward instead of being straight from mid-hip to shoulder. The lower arrow shows how the lower body (the hip) is tilting forward in front and sticking out in back, instead of being straight from mid-hip to the top of the leg bone. Between the two arrows, his lower back is overly arched and pinched. The weight of his upper back plus the weight of his pack is pressing down on the joints and soft tissue of the lower back. This is how overarching causes lower back pain. It is not the backpack, but the body position while carrying it. The other hiker without the backpack standing near the sign is also overly arching the lower back.
Lower back arching (hyperlordosis) may occur automatically when standing, and may seem "natural," but it is not healthy. Wetting your pants is natural too, but you have to learn to control it. To reduce the unhealthy overarching (hyperlordosis), you just use your muscles to stand right. Try this:
- To feel the problem of overarching, stand up and lift your ribs to allow your upper body to lean backward. Allow your hip to tilt down in front and stick out in back. You may feel a familiar pressure in the lower back.
- Straighten your lower body by tucking your "tailbone" under you so that your hip is straight from the top of the upper leg bone to the middle of the crest of the hip bone, not tilted.
- Straighten your upper body by bringing ribs back down to level. Do not slouch or round forward; just stand straight without lifting your ribs.
- The motion of tucking the hip and pulling the upper body straight is like doing an abdominal crunch standing up.
- Your "tailbone" tucks under you so it is not tilted out in back, and the large inward curve of the lower back becomes a small inward curve.
Whenever you are carrying a backpack, standing, walking, running, or exercising, use the same hip tilt to normalize your spine position and prevent overarching. Overarching is not healthy and is poor body ergonomics to walk around or exercise with your behind stuck out in back. The muscles you use to hold your spine from overarching are your abdominal muscles. You get a free built-in abdominal muscle exercise just by standing in healthful position. The next post will cover how to get better exercise and prevent back pain when carrying things in front.
Photo by Kim Pierro
Labels: abdominal muscles, fix pain, lordosis, lower back, neutral spine, posture
6 Comments:
At Tuesday, January 16, 2007 11:07:00 PM,
adwin said…
That;s a good tips for backpacker and generally people does not know or think their back need to be taken care of. Not until the got back pain.
At Friday, January 19, 2007 3:14:00 AM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD said…
Adwin, thank you. I looked at your web site on treating low back pain, and your article, "Running And Back Pain: Check Your Technique For A Likely Cause." The overly arched position causes back pain in runners who arch when they run, usually by tipping the hip forward in front. With each step the lower spine pinches backward, instead of absorbing the impact through the muscles.
Feel free to use this information for your web site. By tipping the back of the hip under (tucking) without pushing the hip forward, you stop the overarch and the pain and facet joint injury from it.
At Wednesday, January 31, 2007 2:30:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
This is great advice for adults, but I don't think it will work for children and teens. They are in a hurry and don't take time to make sure their body is in the correct alignment before dashing off to their next class or to the bus. I am constantly asking my daughter to put the straps on both shoulders, or stand up straight while carring it.
Mom in NC
This year we did invest in a better designed pack and although much more expensive, a better designed, backpack does indeed help with the back strain. They are designed to distribute the weight equally, and fit snuggly against the body when properly adjusted. Unfortunately, not every parent can afford an expensive backpack. The real problem for kids is over stuffing, or simply having to bring home too many heavy books and binders. We have weighed our daughter's backpack before and found that it weighed on average, 25+ lbs. That is too much for a 80 lb. child, especially when the pack is carried incorrectly.
Exercise is vital to helping kids with back strain. My daughter has been competitively cheerleading this year and her "core" has become extremely strong and supportive due to all the strength training she does. Her posture is much better too because her abs are stronger and lengthened. Don't get me wrong, kids don't have to be doing competitive cheering to get a strong healthy core. Sit ups, crunches, pilates, yoga, dancing+++ and basic aerobic exercise will all help. Get your kids moving and it will help them carry the load of a heavy backpack!
At Thursday, February 01, 2007 9:53:00 PM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD said…
Good news - it doesn't have to matter if you carry backpacks with one or both straps if you control positioning.
More good news - teen and childhood years are the years to teach things like brushing teeth, look both ways before crossing the street, not stealing, doing drugs, or killing, and that they control their own body and positioning. Teach them now before they grow up without it.
The post What Abdominal Muscles Don't Do - The Missing Link shows why crunches and pilates are not the best exercises for core muscles.
"Lengthening" the abs would result in exactly the bad positioning shown in the photo of this post. What is needed is to prevent arching by shortening the abs (voluntarily) to hold yourself straight.
The next reply will give more links to previous posts on how to get great ab exercise and prevent the pain from backpack carrying and all the other times you need core muscles.
At Thursday, February 01, 2007 10:06:00 PM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD said…
Here are the promised links for more on why crunches and pilates are not what works your abs in the way you need them for real life, spine positioning, or back pain control, and how to get great ab and core exercise that works in the way you really move (functional exercise):
Fixing the Commonest Source of Mystery Lower Back Pain
Throw a Stronger Punch (or Push a Car or Stroller) Using This Back Pain Reduction Technique
Change Daily Reaching to Get Ab Exercise and Stop Back and Shoulder Pain
If Better Abdominal Muscles Are Your New Year's Resolution, Try This
Change Common Exercises to Get Better Ab Exercise and Stop Back Pain
Have fun starting with these and let us know how it works. It will change your thinking about abs and core to a healthier more fun and smart way to help all your wonderful cheerleading and other activities.
At Thursday, February 01, 2007 10:45:00 PM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD said…
Another helpful link
Carrying Schoolbooks Is Not the Cause of Back Pain
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