The associations between adolescent head-on-neck posture, backpack weight,and anthropometric features

Study Design. A Cross-sectional, observational study, examining the effects of backpack weight on adolescent posture. Objectives. To investigate the response of the craniovertebral angle to bac kpack load. Summary of Background Data. There is a widely held belief that repeated car rying of heavy loads, such as school backpacks, places additional stress on rapidly growing adolescent spinal structures, making them prone to postura l change. Methods. Ten volunteer state high schools in metropolitan Adelaide, South A ustralia, provided 985 students, aged 12 to 18 years and from five differen t high school years, for this study. Students' posture was measured with an d without their school backpack, All data analyses were undertaken per scho ol year level to account for specific load-carrying requirements and spinal development associated with the age group. Results. A significant change in craniovertebral angle was found at every y ear level, when comparing standing posture with no backpack with posture wh en carrying a backpack. The change was greatest for the youngest students. Incremental change in craniovertebral angle was not strongly associated wit h backpack loads. The association became stronger for the oldest girls when controlled for body mass index and for weight. Conclusion. The results support a differential postural response per gender and per level of spinal development but also suggest that the cranioverteb ral angle may not be the most sensitive measure of head-on-neck postural ch ange for adolescents.