It’s hard to believe that summer is coming to an end and that school starts next week. In honor of the back-to-school season, we’d like to share 3 chiropractic tips for your students’ overall wellness. These are easy to implement and can help your student’s physical and mental health.
- Wear your backpack properly.We are most familiar with back pain for adults, but it is becoming more common in children and teens, too. One way to combat this is for your student to properly wear their backpack. Additionally, wearing their backpack properly is important for spinal health. Though it may be “cool” to wear it on just one shoulder, it can cause misalignment in their spine and back pain. Use both straps and adjust them to fit snugly around your student’s shoulders. The backpack should not droop below your belt line. You also want to be sure that the backpack weighs no more than 5-10% of your student’s weight. If it weighs more than this, your student will tend to bend forward in an attempt to support the weight on his or her back, rather than on the shoulders, by the straps.For more backpack safety information and tips on how to purchase the right backpack, head over to the American Chiropractic Association
- Properly Read Books or TabletsWhile it’s great that students are receiving tablets to alleviate heavy books, this now brings a new problem – they are staring down at a screen. Most likely they are sitting with improper posture as their head tilts forward and goes over the top of their shoulders (something we call “text neck”).Students should be cognizant of their posture as they are reading a tablet or book. One way to help with this is to make sure that your student’s tablet (or textbook) is in a stand that tilts toward them and that their head doesn’t tilt over their shoulders. By keeping proper posture and taking breaks to rest their eyes, students can alleviate headaches and other issues.Learn more about text neck here.
- Sit Up Straight.When students are sitting at their desk at school, they need to keep proper posture. To sit correctly at a desk, students should:
- Keep feet flat on the floor
- Shoulders back
- Head over top of their neck
- Neck over top of their shoulders
- Keep books or tablets at eye level
Some students tend to slouch and start sliding underneath the desk, but they really should keep their back against the back of the chair. Make sure their head is on top of their shoulders and not leaning too far forward. This will help with spinal health (and paying attention to the teacher).
Students can even incorporate some of our circulation tips from our travel blog, such as doing small stretches throughout the day.
In addition to these tips, we do recommend chiropractic care to ensure that your student’s spine is properly aligned. Our doctors can also suggest specific tips to help them while at school and beyond. We hope that these tips are useful and that your students have a great year!
