School-Age Kids Health & Safety How to Know When Your Child's Backpack Is Too Heavy By Vincent Iannelli, MD facebook Vincent Iannelli, MD, is a board-certified pediatrician and fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Iannelli has cared for children for more than 20 years. Learn about our editorial process Vincent Iannelli, MD Medically reviewed by a board-certified physician Updated on February 03, 2020 Print Niedring / Drentwett / Getty Images OK. Maybe you have more important things to worry about. It is not like carrying a heavy backpack with a lot of school books can cause serious illnesses, like scoliosis (at least there are no published reports linking heavy backpacks to scoliosis yet). But is carrying a heavy backpack to school causing health problems for your kids? It might if they are carrying more than 10 to 20% of their body weight in their backpack, especially if they have to walk to school or they are carrying their backpack on only one shoulder. Carrying a heavy backpack can be a source of "chronic, low-level trauma," and can cause chronic shoulder, neck, and back pain in your children. Fortunately, the fashion trend of carrying a backpack on only one shoulder seems to have faded. How to Tell If Your Child's Backpack Is Too Heavy Here are some questions to help determine whether your child is carrying too much weight in a backpack: Does your child complain of back pain?Does she walk bent over sideways to try to adjust for the heavy load of a backpack?Does he complain of numbness and tingling in his arms or hands?Does she carry more than 10 to 20% of her body weight in his backpack? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, you might want to take some steps to minimize the chances that carrying a backpack will cause your child back pain or other health problems, including: Limiting the weight your child carries in a backpack to 10 to 20% of his body weightBuying a backpack that has wide, padded shoulder straps and a waist beltAvoiding messenger type, single strap bags for your child to carry his school books and suppliesEncouraging your child to wear her backpack over both shouldersConsider using a backpack with wheelsConsider having a second set of textbooks available at home so that your child doesn't have to carry his books home regularly. Because of the expense, this usually only works if your child's school is doing it as a general policy.Getting your child evaluated by your pediatrician. Although back pain is becoming more common in older adolescents, it is not as common in younger children and may be a sign of a more serious problem, such as spondylolysis, spondylolisthesis, disk herniation, diskitis, a sport's injury, or a tumor or infection. Don't assume that your child's back pain is caused by a heavy backpack, especially if the pain is very severe or persistent or if it lingers even after you lighten your child's backpack load. How to Choose the Best Back-to-School Backpack Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Get diet and wellness tips to help your kids stay healthy and happy. Sign Up You're in! Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. What are your concerns? Other Inaccurate Hard to Understand Submit