It’s in the bagSchool bags are an essential item, and parents must focus on quality and health benefits

Types of bagsSchool bags come in the form of a briefcase, backpack or trolley. There are also ranges for sports kit bags, lunch bags, music bags and project or art bags. Smaller bags which can be included in the offering are wallets, which are sometimes offered as a matching attachment to a school bag, as well as cell phone cases and covers. University students will often need a laptop bag in briefcase or backpack style.

It is important to be able to offer customers a range of sizes from junior to senior - as well as for boys and girls - as a school bag needs to fit the owner correctly in order to avoid damaging the posture of growing spines.

Consumers will need to be advised not to buy an overly-large bag to save money, in the hopes it will last longer, but to purchase a bag that is appropriate to the child’s size and weight-carrying capacity.

Moulded backpacks and frames offer support and an upright structure. Those with adjustable hip straps allow the weight of the bag to rest on the pelvis instead of the shoulders and spine.

Support straps, especially at the shoulders where most of the weight is supported, should have extra padding to help reduce the pressure on the neck and shoulder muscles. Adjustable strap lengths are important in order to make allowance for children’s growth.

The bag should also offer multiple

pouches or compartments to allow for the even distribution of weight throughout the bag. This promotes better balance and stability. Compartments will be needed to keep textbooks and lunch boxes separate, while exterior water bottle pouches make access to hydration quick and easy, without the risk of spills.

Cheap school bags offer no infrastructure or support and feature insufficiently padded or shaped straps. If the bag hangs away from the child’s back, it forces the child to compensate by thrusting his shoulders forward, contracting the chest muscles and rounding his back in an attempt to carry the bag’s weight on his back. This posture position will become a habit and the child will ruin his posture for life, with rounded shoulders evident in many teenagers.

Quality“The majority of school bags are designed for the books and not for the kids that carry them,” says Nadine Hirschfield, MD of Totem Bags. “For most families, buying backpacks has become an annual ritual and expense. “Due to the lack of standards testing in South Africa, most schoolbags are guaranteed to break within a year. The bags often fall apart from the excessive weight, resulting in a costly ongoing outlay. Parents tend to lay blame on the poor child for abuse of their school

bags, when in all likelihood the inferior material and production methods are the contributing factors.”With a three-year guarantee on all Totem’s schoolbags, Hirschfield says the brand has been torture-tested to withstand the normal wear and tear that kids dish out and still see through the guarantee of three years. “Replacing bags once or more a year is an expensive exercise for any parent. Totem bags are endorsed by the Chiropractors

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DID YOU KNOW?Regular use of heavy,

overstuffed school bags and inappropriate carrying

methods can put children at the risk of musculoskeletal

problems and changes to the body’s posture. The globally recommended safe load limit is 10% to 15% of the child’s

body weight.

Association of South Africa (CASA) and genuinely last for three years or more. We get very few returns,” adds Hirschfield.School bags need to be tough, since they are used daily. The fabric will need to be durable and of a good denier polyester, leather or canvas. Bags should also be lightweight, made from breathable material, and be relatively water resistant.Zips and attachments will need to be of good quality, and pockets and seams need double stitching to prevent split seams. Look for brands that offer guarantees on the opening mechanisms and fabric. Reflective fabrics will also offer the benefit of visibility when cycling or walking in low-light hours.

BrandsBranded bags may be more expensive but they also guarantee higher quality and support for the school-goer’s health. Due to the research and development carried out on the proper construction of a bag, brands can offer quality.

As children are still growing, their spines need to be protected from permanent injury caused by the constant strain of picking up and carrying a heavy school bag. Branded school bags are often endorsed by an accredited orthopaedic or chiropractic body, ensuring an ergonomic design that evenly distributes and supports weight.

Comprehensive research in South Africa has established that schoolchildren between the ages of 10 and puberty are the most vulnerable and most likely to suffer with some form of posture problem. The problem is further exacerbated during the formative years, when growth spurts are prevalent and young muscles and joints are straining to develop.

Even if a child is taken to and from school by car or bus, he is still carrying the bag to and from the various lessons. It is an accumulative effect of carrying the load around every day, for months and years. To easily relate to the weight problem, it’s the equivalent of an adult female carrying two 10kg bags of dog food around all day.

Johannesburg-based chiropractor Brad Beira, who specialises in treating children, says that most of the children he treats have tightness and soreness related to their school bags. “Muscles that pull at the neck can set up a cycle which can lead to spinal distress or spinal damage.

“Headaches and back pain can affect children’s concentration and cause

Parents may think a trolley bag is the solution to health considerations, as the weight may be carried on the ground, but it is not an ideal way to carry weight over the long term. Physiotherapists advise that pulling a trolley bag rotates the shoulder backwards and twists the spine. This can encourage distortion by lengthening. It is also cumbersome on an uneven surface and often twists the wrist when the bag flips. The trolley bag is a bag that was primarily designed for short-term use and is most efficient at an airport for limited use.

The trolley bag

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restlessness in the classroom. Chronic back and neck strain related to carrying weight can also lead to depression and poor achievement. Strained muscles also cause conditions such as post nasal drip and congestion.

“Unfortunately the condition is well under-diagnosed.”

By choosing a well-established brand, backed by prevailing health authorities, retailers will experience very few returns.

Bag selection by schoolsMany schools prohibit their pupils from using a bag of their choice and these

children are forced to buy prescribed or “allocated” school bags, with no design consideration given to the child that has to wear the bag. The colour of the bag and the school logo often takes precedence.

Totem Bags now offers schools a healthy option by printing or embroidering the school logo on a custom-coloured school bag, and is already producing schoolbags in various sizes for a number of private schools in South Africa.

Comments Hirschfield: “Parents should collectively take a stronger stance by participating in the selection of the “best choice” of schoolbag. School books

should not take precedence over a child’s health.”

FashionSelecting a school bag that is good, sturdy and big enough won’t necessarily ensure its appeal with the owner. A school bag is an important fashion statement for students: because they use the same bag every day, it becomes a reflection of personal style. If the wearer likes the bag and has an attachment to its style and colours, the bag will be handled more carefully and potentially last much longer. n

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Tel: 060 000 1777

E-mail: info@dosptyltd.biz

www.dosptyltd.biz

iSTAY LAPTOP RUCKSACK

Design coming together with practicality in the iStay range. The college of Chiropractors has commended the iStay range for its potential to help users avoid musculoskeletal discomfort and other pains from carrying heavy bags.Rucksack features:• Padded 16” laptop compartment• Water resistant• Two mesh side pockets• Contour organiser zips

• Complete with the non slip iStay patented bag straps

• Gun metal fittings• Multiple compartments

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