Musculoskeletal Pains Associated with Schoolbag Carriage in Children and Adolescents a Cross Sectional Study in Twin Cities

Abstract

Objectives: To determine the association of musculoskeletal pain in school-going children and adolescents with schoolbag carriage practices and certain sociodemographic variables.

Methodology: An analytical cross-sectional study involving parents of 256 school- going children in Islamabad and Rawalpindi was conducted after IRB approval. Online and in- field distribution of structured questionnaires was done. SPSS Version 23 was used for data entry and analysis. Descriptive analysis was done by calculating percentages, frequencies, and standard deviations, while inferential analysis was done by cross-tabulation and Chi-square testing.

Results: 253 students of mean age 12.50 ± 9.1 were studied, where 68.4% reported musculoskeletal pain due to schoolbag carriage. 78.9% female students and 74.4% government school students reported musculoskeletal pain due to increased duration and frequency of schoolbag carriage along with higher BMIs and bag weight. An increasing trend of pain was seen with increasing age, higher BMI, higher school grades, and increased waiting time for transport. A significant association was found between the development of musculoskeletal pain and gender (0.003), type of school (0.001), duration (0.000) and frequency of carriage (0.016), bag weight-to-body weight ratio (0.026), transport wait time (0.030) and postural changes (0.000).

Conclusion: An association between musculoskeletal pain in school-going children and schoolbag carriage practices as well as sociodemographic variables was observed.