Look at what we are doing to our children:
*More than 40 million students carry school backpacks
*More than half of children in a study regularly carried more than the recommended 15% of their body weight in their school backpacks.
*58% of orthopedists polled in 1999 in Chicago and Wilmington, Delaware, reported treating children with back or shoulder pain attributable to carrying backpacks.
*The most common symptom reported from backpack use is “rucksack palsy.” This condition results when pressure put on the nerve in the shoulder causes numbness in the hands, muscle wasting, and in extreme cases, nerve damage.
*More than 3,300 children, aged 5-14 years, were treated in emergency rooms for injuries related to backpacks in 1998; these numbers do not include students who went to family physicians or doctors of chiropractic.
If we don’t help our children now, when they are 10 years old they will have the posture of a 80 year old. Read the right and wrong ways to wear a backpack.
Now that we have the children wearing the backpack correctly. Here are six exercises to help correct they posture.
1. Static Back ~ 5 Minutes
* Lie on your back with your legs up over a block or chair
* Place your arms out to the sides at 45 degrees from your body with palms up
* Relax your upper back and notice if your low back flattens to the floor evenly from left to right
2. Static Back Reverse Presses ~ 3 Sets of 10
* Lie on your back with your legs up over a block or chair
* Relax your legs, back and stomach
* Place your arms in a bent position directly out from your shoulders
* Bend 90 degrees at the elbows, hands are in a fist pointed up toward the ceiling
* Now squeeze your shoulder blades down and together and then release
* Try to relax your stomach muscles and do NOT try just to push your elbows into the floor – focus on the squeezing and releasing of your shoulder blade muscles
3. Hooklying Gluteal Contractions ~ 3 Sets of 20
* Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor pointed straight ahead
* Place your arms out to sides at a 45 degree angle with palms up
* Squeeze and release your buttocks muscles without contracting your abdominal muscles
4. Hooklying Knee Pillow Squeezes ~ 3 Sets of 20
* Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor pointed straight ahead
* Place a towel under your lower back if instructed to do so on your menu
* Put a pillow between your knees
* Place arms out to sides at a 45 degree angle with palms up
* Squeeze your knees inward into the pillow then release
5. Airbench ~ 2 Minutes
* Stand with your back against a wall with feet and knees hip width apart and feet pointed straight
* Walk your feet away from the wall while sliding your body down at the same time
* You will be “seated” in an invisible chair, with your knees bent to 90 degrees
* Your hips are just slightly higher than your knees; your ankles are slightly ahead of your knees
* Your lower back should be completely flat against the wall
* Your arms can hang down to your sides, or rest your hands gently on your lap
* Hold
* Keep the weight in your heels, do not press forward on your toes
6. Supine Foot Circles and Point/Flex ~ 40 Reps Each Direction Each Foot
* Lie on your back with one leg extended and the other leg bent and pulled up toward your chest
* Clasp your hands behind the bent knee
* Keep the foot on the floor pointed straight up toward the ceiling and your thigh muscles tight
* Circle the lifted foot one way for the indicated number or repetitions, then reverse direction for the same number of reps
* Make sure the knee stays absolutely still with movement coming from the ankle and not the knee
* For the point/flexes, bring the toes back toward the shin to flex, then reverse the direction to point the foot forward for the indicated number of reps
* Switch legs and repeat
Let us know if you have any tips for parents to help with this backpack issue.
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