Reviews Open access

EFFECTS ON SCHOOLBAG GAIT KINEMATICS: A MECHANICAL OVERLOAD POTENTIALLY CAUSING DEVELOPMENTAL MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS?

Authors

Published
18 September 2020
Section
Reviews
DOI
10.4081/gimle.458
Pages
201-207

Abstract

Studies and reviews show that the vast majority of students around the world use heavy and uncomfortable backpacks, which could negatively affect their musculoskeletal development or at least generate a non-physiological functional overload. In this regard, non-invasive analyses were carried out on a sample of 150 healthy students aged between 14 and 15 years using a wearable inertial device for gait analysis: G-Walk System by BTS Bioengineering. Each student performed a gait analysis session consisting in a walk of 15 meters along a straight path in two different conditions: free walk and walk with backpack. A backpack with a sturdy backrest, wide and padded straps and abdominal belt with buckle was chosen. The weight inside the backpack was fixed at 9.3 kg in accordance with scientific studies conducted by Stefano Negrini of IS/CO (Istituto Scientifico
202
Italiano Colonna Vertebrale). Aim of this work is to understand, through an accurate analysis both instrumental and statistical, if we can talk about differential influence of musculoskeletal type generated by a school backpack full load compared to no backpack, trying to find out if and how much this affects walking both in terms of space-time parameters and detachment from normality values, and in terms of kinematic parameters such as pelvic rotations angles. Results showed a statistically significant difference between the space-time parameters computed in the two different study conditions, moreover a qualitative and quantitative difference was found for kinematic parameters too, which could imply potential musculoskeletal disorders associated with prolonged and long-lasting use of heavy and uncomfortable backpacks. This study has the ambition to raise awareness of this issue in order to extend legislative limits to the "working" environment of children, that is the school, as it is done for working environments adults (D. Igs 81/08 related to manual maintenance of loads).

Keywords

References

  1. 1) Negrini, S. Lo zainetto scolastico. Relazione clinico-scientifica. Milano: ISICO (1999).
  2. 2) Balagué, F., Skovron, M. L., Nordin, M., et al. (1995). Low back pain in schoolchildren. A study of familial and psychological factors. Spine, 20(11), 1265-1270. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/00007632-199506000-00012
  3. 3) Balague, F., Troussier, B., & Salminen, J. J. (1999). Non-specific low back pain in children and adolescents: risk factors. European spine journal, 8(6), 429-438. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s005860050201
  4. 4) Grimmer, K., & Williams, M. (2000). Gender-age environmental associates of adolescent low back pain. Applied ergonomics, 31(4), 343-360. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-6870(00)00002-8
  5. 5) Grimmer, K. A., Williams, M. T., & Gill, T. K. (1999). The associations between adolescent head-on-neck posture, backpack weight, and anthropometric features. Spine, 24(21), 2262. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/00007632-199911010-00015
  6. 6) Troussier, B., Davoine, P., De Gaudemaris, R., et al. (1994). Back pain in school children. A study among 1178 pupils. Scandinavian journal of rehabilitation medicine, 26(3), 143. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2340/165019771994263143146
  7. 7) Chansirinukor, W., Wilson, D., Grimmer, K., et al. (2001). Effects of backpacks on students: measurement of cervical and shoulder posture. Australian Journal of physiotherapy, 47(2), 110-116. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0004-9514(14)60302-0
  8. 8) Feingold, A. J., & Jacobs, K. (2002). The effect of education on backpack wearing and posture in a middle school population. Work, 18(3), 287-294. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3233/WOR-2002-00240
  9. 9) Negrini, S., & Carabalona, R. (2002). Backpacks on! Schoolchildren's perceptions of load, associations with back pain and factors determining the load. Spine, 27(2), 187-195. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/00007632-200201150-00014
  10. 10) Negrini, S., Carabalona, R., Pinochi, G., et al. (1998). Backpack and back pain in school children: is there a direct relationship? The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery-british Volume, 80(3S), 247. 11) Negrini, S., Carabalona, R., & Sibilla, P. (1999). Backpack as a daily load for schoolchildren. The Lancet, 354(9194), 1974. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(99)04520-1
  11. 12) Negrini, S., Politano, E., Carabalona, R., et al. (2004). The backpack load in schoolchildren: clinical and social importance, and efficacy of a community-based educational intervention. Europa medicophysica.
  12. 13) Perrone, M., Orr, R., Hing, W., Milne, N., & Pope, R. (2018). The impact of backpack loads on school children: A critical narrative review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(11), 2529. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15112529
  13. 14) Ahmad, H. N., & Barbosa, T. M. (2019). The effects of backpack carriage on gait kinematics and kinetics of schoolchildren. Scientific reports, 9(1), 1-6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-40076-w
  14. 15) Tao, W., Liu, T., Zheng, R., et al. Gait analysis using wearable sensors. Sensors 12(2), 2255-2283 (2012). DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/s120202255
  15. 16) Mancini, M., & Horak, F. B. (2016). Potential of APDM mobility lab for the monitoring of the progression of Parkinson's disease.Expert review of medical devices, 13(5), 455-462. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1586/17434440.2016.1153421
  16. 17) Iuppariello, L., Bifulco, P., Romano, M., et al. Submovements composition and quality assessment of reaching movements in subjects with Parkinson's Disease. In: 2015 IEEE International Symposium on Medical Measurements and Applications (MeMeA) Proceedings, pp. 329-334. IEEE (2015). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/MeMeA.2015.7145222
  17. 18) D'Addio, G., Evangelista, S., Donisi, L., Biancardi, A., Andreozzi, E., Pagano, G., ... & Cesarelli, M. (2019, July). Development of a Prototype E-Textile Sock. In 2019 41st Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC) (pp. 17498-1752). IEEE. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/EMBC.2019.8856739
  18. DOI: 10.1109/EMBC.2019.8856739 19) D'Addio, G., Iuppariello, L., Bifulco, P., et al. Validity and reliability of textile system Sensoria for posturographic measurements. Giornale italiano di medicina del lavoro ed ergonomia 39(4), 278-284 (2017). 20) D'Addio, G., Iuppariello, L., Pagano, G., et al. New posturographic assessment by means of novel e-textile and wireless socks device. In: 2016 IEEE International Symposium on Medical Measurements and Applications (MeMeA), pp. 1-5. IEEE (2016). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/MeMeA.2016.7533798
  19. 21) Washabaugh, E. P., Kalyanaraman, T., Adamczyk, P. G., Claflin, E. S., & Krishnan, C. (2017). Validity and repeatability of inertial measurement units for measuring gait parameters. Gait & posture, 55, 87-93. 22) Di Leonardo, P., Beratto, L., Alessandria, M., ABATE DAGA, F., & Gollin, M. (2016). Core stability and unstable surface training in parkinson's desease: a longitudinal study. In VIII Cong. Naz. SISMES, Ricerca e formazione applicate alle scienze motorie e sportive, 6-8 Ottobre. Roma 2016 (pp. 77-77). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2017.04.013
  20. 23) D'Addio, G., Donisi, L., Pagano, G., Improta, G., Biancardi, A., & Cesarelli, M. (2019, July). Agreement between Opal and G-Walk Wearable Inertial Systems in Gait Analysis on Normal and Pathological Subjects. In 2019 41st Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC) (pp. 3286-3289). IEEE. DOI: 10.1109/EMBC.2019.8857841 24) Hong, Y., & Li, J. X. (2005). Influence of load and carrying methods on gait phase and ground reactions in children's stair walking. Gait & posture, 22(1), 63-68. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/EMBC.2019.8857841

Metrics

Citations and online attention from Dimensions, Altmetric and PlumX.

PlumX Metrics

License

Copyright (c) 2020 The Author(s)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

PAGEPress has chosen to apply the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) to all manuscripts to be published.

Most read articles by the same author(s)