2017 -- S 0881

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LC002677

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2017

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S E N A T E   R E S O L U T I O N

STRONGLY URGING ALL SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS, TEACHERS, PARENTS AND

STUDENTS BE EDUCATED ABOUT THE POTENTIAL HEALTH IMPACT OF HEAVY

BACKPACKS AND TAKE PROACTIVE MEASURES TO AVOID INJURY

     Introduced By: Senators Gallo, Conley, and Ciccone

     Date Introduced: May 11, 2017

     Referred To: Senate Education

     WHEREAS, Overloaded school backpacks are causing an increasing problem of back

pain and spinal strain for students across the nation; and

     WHEREAS, Because spinal ligaments and muscles are not fully developed until after age

sixteen, overweight backpacks are a source of repeated low-level stress that may result in chronic

neck, shoulder or back pain in children; and

     WHEREAS, According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than

7,000 emergency room visits each year are due to backpack-related injuries. In 2010 alone,

physicians' offices, clinics, and hospital emergency rooms treated nearly 28,000 strains, sprains,

dislocations, and fractures from backpacks; and

     WHEREAS, Studies have shown heavy loads carried on the back have the potential to

damage the soft tissues of the shoulder, causing microstructural damage to the nerves and damage

to internal organs; and

     WHEREAS, Studies have shown an increase in curvatures of the spine and compressed

intervertebral height when backpacks exceed ten percent of a child's body weight; and

     WHEREAS, The Global Burden of Disease Study of 2010 showed back pain as the

number one cause of disability worldwide and musculoskeletal disorders as the second cause; and

     WHEREAS, Children's textbooks are much heavier now than many years ago, and in

addition to textbooks, students often carry computers, cell phones, water bottles, running shoes,

band instruments, and other equipment considered essential to have readily available; and

     WHEREAS, More than ninety percent of students carry backpacks, which in studies have

been found to weigh as much as twenty-five percent of the child's body weight; and

     WHEREAS, Backpacks are often not worn correctly — often slung over one shoulder or

allowed to hang significantly below the waistline, increasing the weight on the shoulders and

making the child lean forward when walking or stoop forward when standing to compensate for

the weight; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

hereby strongly urges that all school administrators, teachers, parents, and students be educated

about the potential health impact of heavy backpacks and take proactive measures to avoid injury;

and be it further

     RESOLVED, That this Senate hereby recommends that Doctors of Chiropractic be

permitted to conduct mandatory interval scoliosis examinations on children; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That this Senate hereby recommends that schools work with their

PTA/PTO to assess the extent to which students use overweight backpacks and to promote

innovative homework strategies, lessening the need to take all school materials and books back

and forth each day. In addition, schools should consider the following points when developing

their backpack education talking points:

     ( Backpacks should weigh no more than a maximum of ten percent of a child's body

weight;

     ( Encourage ergonomic backpacks with individualized compartments to efficiently

hold books and equipment;

     ( Encourage children to wear both shoulder straps and not sling the backpack over one

shoulder;

     ( Encourage wide, padded adjustable straps to fit a child's body;

     ( Encourage the heaviest books be left at school and handouts or workbooks be used

for homework assignments;

     ( Schools should consider moving toward e-textbooks as federal and state funding

becomes available; and

     ( Schools should consider integrated education about backpacks by using a hanging

scale in the classroom, allowing students to weigh their backpack and enter the results into a

graph that would track the weights, and then look at the data to determine what can be done to

lighten loads; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to the Commissioner of Elementary and

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Secondary Education, the President of the Rhode Island Association of School Committees,

President of the Rhode Island PTA, President of the Rhode Island Association of Administrators,

the President of the National Education Association Rhode Island, and the President of Rhode

Island Chapter of the Federation of Teachers and Healthcare Professionals.

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LC002677

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