Or are you a backy or a fronty??? It’s September so of course we’re talking about how you carry your backpack!!! As students of every age return to their studies, you will have lots of opportunities to watch as they lug their books around, some carrying as much or more than their own body weight! (Note: it is recommended that backpacks not weigh more than 20% of your body weight.) Some carry their backpacks on their right shoulder, some on their left. Others carry their backpacks as they were designed to be used (i.e., over both shoulders with the weight on their back) although you will also see some carrying it with the bag to the front.
Most students use one shoulder or the other to carry their backpacks, and while that may not be the smartest choice, your shoulder is still a pretty AMAZING part of your body!!! The shoulder joint itself is one of the largest and most complex joints in the body! It is where your upper arm bone (humerus) meets your shoulder blade (scapula.) While most of the arm bone is long and thin, the end is shaped like a ball. That end fits loosely into the joint to allow for a wide range of motion.
In fact, the shoulder joint has so much range
of motion that it is the body’s most flexible joint! Think of all the things you can do with your arms: they can reach up and down, out to the side like airplane wings, in front of you and behind you, or go round and round like propellers. You can even rotate them by flipping the palm of your hands up and then down. That’s all due to your AMAZING shoulders.
Your shoulders are supported by seventeen different muscles and numerous tendons and ligaments to provide considerable strength for activities like pushing, pulling, and lifting. Four specific muscles and their tendons hold the arm in the joint and are collectively known as the rotator cuff. Advanced weightlifters can commonly lift hundreds of pounds over their heads and the current record for deadlift (just picking the weight off the ground, not over the head) is a whopping 1,104 pounds!!! Those are really strong shoulders!! Aren’t our bodies AMAZING!!
Of course, that doesn’t mean that you can load up your backpack with every book in the library. Understand that no matter how you wear your backpack or how heavy it is, carrying a backpack will absolutely challenge your muscles, set up imbalances in the musculature of your back, and affect your posture and your gait. That is super important because your back muscles support your spine, your spine protects your nerve system, and your nerve system runs your body!!! But you have to carry your backpacks, so what’s a student to do!?! Your family chiropractor can help you with that. Whether you’re righty, a
lefty, a backy, or a fronty, see your family chiropractor regularly and have an AMAZING school year!!
—By Judy Nutz Campanale, DC, ACP
