Problem

Children are suffering by toting heavy textbooks.

The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) and the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) states that children should not carry more than 10% of their bodyweight. Yet researchers found children carrying 22% of their bodyweight in studies conducted in the US.1

60% of the orthopedists reported seeing child patients with back and shoulder pain caused by heavy backpacks.2 The National Safety Council states that according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission there were more than 21,000 backpack related injuries that ended up being treated in emergency rooms, clinics and doctors’ offices in 2003. The range of these injuries was widespread from contusions, to sprains, and even fractures.3

Russell Windsor, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at New York’s City Hospital for Special Surgery states there are more fourth and fifth graders complaining of backaches fatigue and stress. He further asserts that these children don’t have the body strength to remain erect under these loads and it puts their skeleton under substantial pressure.

Backpack related problems are not confined to the US only. A research study conducted in Italy supported by the Italian Health Ministry shows that more than 35% of Italian school children carry more than 33% of their bodyweight, which exceeds the limits proposed for adults.4

Solution

Lose the bulk and carry what you need most.

Traditional textbooks are the main culprits of the large backpack weights and related injuries. Livre Libre’s technology will allow publishers to print modular books. This new form of binding allows chapters or sections of a book to be individually bound such that it can be carried separately or attached to the other sections of the book.

Hence, students will no longer need to carry around the entire textbook but only the section that they need. This will dramatically reduce the weight that they put in their backpacks, and at the same time reduce backaches and other injuries.

---

1 “Pain in the Backpack.” WebMD.com. 2000. WebMD. 13 Apr. 2009.
2 “Pain in the Backpack.” WebMD.com. 2000. WebMD. 13 Apr. 2009.
3 “Backpack-related injuries in children – NSC.” NSC.org. National Safety Council. 13 Apr. 2009.
4 “School Kids Carrying the Weight of the World on Their Shoulders.” WebMD.com. 1999. WebMD. 13 Apr. 2009.