Use of Single Shoulder Handling Bag: Scoliosis and Musculoskeletal Pain in School Going Children. “A Cross Sectional Study”

Objectives: The objectives of the study were to assess the Frequency of musculoskeletal pain, and to check whether single strapped bags are culprit of causing scoliosis in school going children or not as compared to other types of school bags i.e. double strapped and trolley type bags.Methodology: The study design was an observational cross-sectional. The process of data collection from the school going children (n=398) between the ages of 8 and 16 years was carried out in the government schools of the Faisalabad through a simple random sampling technique. Measurements of weight were taken through spring scale and subjective self-administered questionnaire was completed from each student along with cobb’s angle to measure the curvature and Adam forward bend test was also performed on each pupil.Results: Majority of the students used to carry single strapped bag with average value of 50.5% while double strapped bag with average percentage of 48.0%. Most of the students were used to carry bag on one side of shoulder with an average value of 68.3% and only 31.7% carried bag on both sides of shoulders. Most of the children reported pain in the neck and shoulder region with average percentage of 73.6% and in back/buttock were 105 with percentage of 26.4%. 92.5% of the children stated that their pain was relieved when they took off their bags and 51.3% were used to take medicine for pain reduction. On visual analogue rating scale, 57.8% of the children reported the moderate level of pain. Mean ± SD of students using single strapped and double strapped bags were 2.2438± 0.579 and 1.7958 and 0.64497. Adam forward test was also most frequently positive in students using single strapped bag as compared to other types of bags (p value = 0.000) reflecting scoliosisConclusion: Students majority who used to wear one side shoulder bag were prone to suffer scoliosis and pain in neck and shoulder region.