BACKPACK ALERT

You may not have used a backpack when you were in school, but they now are high on the back-to-school shopping lists. These days, every school student seems to need one. They’re a good way to carry books, laptops, baseball mitts, lunches and the other must-have stuff. But they can be hazardous in unexpected ways.

Consider what the American Academy of Pediatrics says on the subject. An article in its journal told of a survey of 100 hospital emergency rooms throughout the country. The study turned up reports of backpack-related injuries of 247 children from 6 to 18 years old. The most common injury location was the head and face – 22 percent. Other injuries were to the hand, the wrist or elbow, shoulder, foot or ankle and back – mostly from carrying a backpack.

But wearing a backpack accounted for only 13 percent of the injuries. Tripping over a backpack accounted for 28 percent of the total. Another 13 percent involved getting hit by a backpack.

It turns out that the kids sometimes whack each other with their backpacks.

So what are parents to do about all this? The authors of an article in the pediatric journal titled “Acute Backpack Injuries in Children” suggest that you can forget about redesigning backpacks and restricting the loads.

The more useful course, they say, is to educate children in backpack safety habits. They should be careful hauling them up and down stairs. They should stow them in a safe place to avoid tripping over them. And, above all, they should stop whacking each other with their backpacks.