Every year around the last week of August, my waiting room fills up with a very specific kind of patient: a kid who was completely fine all summer and is suddenly walking around like they’re carrying a backpack full of bricks. Some days, they actually are.
I see this pattern every September at my office on East 22nd Street, and it’s rarely just one thing. It’s backpacks loaded wrong, hours hunched over a school laptop, fall sports starting back up after a summer of not doing much, and, this part gets missed a lot, parents who are just as worn out from the new schedule as their kids.
The Backpack Is Usually the Easiest Fix
A backpack should weigh somewhere around 10 to 15 percent of a kid’s body weight. For an 80-pound fourth grader, that’s 8 to 12 pounds, which is less than it sounds like once you add a laptop, a water bottle, and three textbooks “just in case.” Worn on one shoulder, or slung low near the hips, that weight pulls the spine sideways and rounds the shoulders forward. Most days I can tell which kids carry their bag on one side just by watching them walk through the door. Two straps, snug against the back, heaviest books packed closest to the spine: it’s a small habit that saves a lot of soreness.
Then there’s the laptop problem, which really wasn’t much of a thing ten years ago and now shows up in almost every school-age patient I see. Kids are on district-issued Chromebooks most of the school day, then homework on a tablet at home, then a phone the second homework’s done. That adds up to a lot of hours with the head tipped forward and the shoulders curled in, and a growing spine doesn’t hold up well to that position for that long. It’s usually not painful right away. It’s more that I start noticing the posture, rounded shoulders, head sitting out in front instead of stacked over the shoulders, before a kid ever mentions being sore.
Fall Sports Bring a Different Kind of Problem
September also means tryouts and two-a-day practices, and this is where I see a different pattern: kids who spent the summer on a screen or at the pool suddenly asked to sprint, cut, and tackle on a body with zero conditioning behind it. Sore low backs, tight hips, the occasional rolled ankle from a body that isn’t quite ready for what’s being asked of it. A quick check before the season really ramps up catches a lot of this early, before it turns into missed practice time or, worse, a kid trying to play through pain because they don’t want to sit out.
And parents, I haven’t forgotten about you. Between the carpool line, sitting in the bleachers at Friday night games, hauling around a trombone case because band just started, and running on noticeably less sleep than you had in July, a lot of you are walking in with the exact same stiff neck and low back your kid has. Makes sense: the whole household’s routine changed in about two weeks, and bodies don’t always get the memo that fast.
When It’s Worth Getting Looked At
None of this needs to turn into a bigger problem. If your kid’s been complaining about a sore neck, or you’ve noticed them favoring one shoulder when they carry their bag, it’s worth having someone actually look at it instead of hoping it works itself out over a weekend. Same goes for you, if getting out of the car after morning drop-off has started to feel like an event.
Dr. Nisreen and I both see patients of every age here in Vancouver, and most weeks I can get you or your kid in the same day you call. Give me a ring at 360-573-5500, or just stop by my office on East 22nd Street. I’d much rather catch this stuff in September than deal with it in November.
