Weight of school material and back pain in students leaving their books at school

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The prevalence of back pain in children and adolescents has been reason for school health concern. Among different causes, school material weight is high-lighted since studies have shown that it exceeds recommended values. So, strategies to decrease material weight have been ad-opted, such as the availability of cabinets or shelves to leave the books at school. However, it is not well explained whether such strategies would solve the problem. This study aimed at observ-ing the association between school material weight and back pain in students who leave their material at school. METHODS: Sample was made up of 48 students of the 5 th year of Basic Education of a municipal school of Petrolina-PE. Stu-dents and their materials were weighed. The back pain and body posture evaluation instrument was used to evaluate back pain. RESUMO JUSTIFICATIVA E OBJETIVOS: A prevalência de dor nas cos-tas em crianças e adolescentes tem sido motivo de preocupações no âmbito da saúde escolar. Entre as diferentes causas, o peso do ma-terial escolar destaca-se, uma vez que pesquisas mostram que este excede os valores recomendados. Assim, estratégias para reduzir o peso do material têm sido adotadas, como a disponibilidade de ar-Weight of school material and back pain in students leaving their books at school Peso do material escolar e dor nas costas em alunos que deixam seus livros na escola