Back to school series: Backpack safety

It’s almost back to school time, which means plenty of planning before the school bell rings for the first time in 2025.

Here’s some handy homework prepared by Gold Coast Primary Health Network to help you and your young ones – those starting school for the first time and those returning – get properly prepared for a big year ahead.

Backpack safety

The Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA) says two often overlooked areas of the back-to-school discussion are arguably two of the most important – what type and how children use their backpack, and what they wear on their feet.

Gold Coast APA member and paediatrics specialist Nikki Milne, says their advice to help ensure children start the school year in safety and comfort is to follow these tips:

• Choose a backpack with wide shoulder straps that sit well on the shoulder.
• Ensure the waist and chest straps help transfer some of the load to the hips and pelvis.
• A padded back-support will allow the pack to fit ‘snugly’ on the back.
• Ensure the backpack fits the child; don’t buy a big pack to ‘grow’ into – the pack should not extend higher than the child’s shoulders when sitting.
• Be aware that moderately weighted backpacks are not detrimental to kids’ back health.

The average child wears their school shoes for over 1500 hours per year – that’s a lot of running, jumping, kicking and playing on hard surfaces – so it’s important that school shoes support kids’ feet.

Nikki says some tips to look out for include:

• Make sure the shoe has a firm heel counter, which is designed to hold the foot in place. Without a firm support around the ankle, the shoe can’t support the foot properly.
• Make sure the shoe has good torsional stability. Hold both ends of the shoe and twist in opposite directions. There should be minimal movement. Torsional stability protects the foot from rolling in or out too far.
• Make sure the shoe bends in the right place. Squeeze both ends of the shoe together; it should bend at the toes where the foot naturally bends. If it bends in the middle, it can cause extra stress underneath the foot.

Make sure the shoe fits correctly – too much or too little space will affect comfort and potentially cause blisters or the foot to move too much within the shoe.