Backpack awareness day seeks relief for school children.

Back to school means back to muscle strain and pain for many overloaded school children. September 24 marks the second annual observance of National School Backpack Awareness Day promoted by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Bethesda, Maryland.

An estimated 40 million youths carry their schoolbooks in backpacks, according to AOTA, which reported an estimated 6,000 injuries from backpack use in 1999 in the United States. About 23 percent of elementary school children and 33 percent of secondary school children complain of back pain.

To call attention to these problems, AOTA launched its national awareness day in 2002. The organization provides a community tool kit for members interested in hosting an educational event, such as a backpack weigh-in at a local school. The kit includes an event planning guide, sample request and permission letters, forms for recording backpack weigh-in information, handouts, media tools, and art.

AOTA's Web site--www.aota .org/backpack--also offers information for parents and students on how to properly load and wear backpacks, such as loading the heaviest items closest to the child's back and always wearing both shoulder straps.