Psychophysical aspects of backpack load and safety and health in children

The load of students' backpacks has raised questions over the safety and health of schoolchildren everywhere. The purpose of this chapter is to use heart rate, ratings of perceived exertion, and perceptions of pain to find an acceptable backpack load limit for middle school students. Twenty middle school students aged 11 to 14 (10 female and 10 male) volunteered for the study. The subjects completed two tests, standing stationary and walking on a treadmill, where they carried 5% incremental loads from 0% body mass (BM) to 20% BM. The study indicated that the Borg-CR10 ratings and for the walking trial indicated a possible load limit of 10% BM due to the non-significant difference between 0 and 10% BM and the significant difference between 10 and 15% BM