Backpack associated musculoskeletal problems in school going Indian children

Background: Backpacks are major cause of health concern and need urgent attention as well as teacher-parent education. Data from Indian subcontinent is almost non-existent despite of very high population of school going children. Materials and methods:744 semi-rural Indian school going children were evaluated for backpack related problems. Standardized Nordic questionnaire was used for assessment based on responses given by children. All children belonged to same population strata, however went to different schools. Children aged 5 to 17 were involved in the study. Results:395 (53.09%) children had complaints in any region. Shoulder pain was the maximum in 28.09% followed by neck pain in 10.35 %, knee pain (4.84%), low back pain (4.30%) and upper back pain (3.36%). Girls (n=202) had more complaints as compared to boys (n=193) (p-value= 0.002). Relative backpack weight of more than 10% was found to be associated with higher incidence of pain as compares to less than 10% relative backpack weight (p-value