April is National Backpack Safety Month

The month of April has been designated as National Backpack Safety Month by the Congress of Chiropractic State Associations, (COCSA). This organization is an association of other US state chiropractic organizations. This month-long event is designed to help educate parents, children and school officials about the potential dangers of heavy backpacks used by children and the solutions to this problem. This is the second year for this event. However, this year a large corporate sponsor has joined in. Office Depot will be promoting the program directly to school officials across the country. Office Depot, Inc. is one of the world's largest sellers of stationary supplies to schools.

Dr. Jerry DeGrado, Vice President of COCSA, and Chairperson of the National Backpack Safety Committee, commented on this years events by saying, "This program is going to explode with Office Depots support. They give us the all-important foot-in-the-door that is so often the most difficult first step with this kind of program. With Office Depot introducing the program to schools and the continued involvement of doctors of chiropractic across the country, the National Backpack Safety Program promises to be bigger than ever in 2003."

In a February 22, 2003 release, COCSA President, Dr. Kevin Donovan, also added, Recent research reports that a majority of todays students are carrying more than the recommended weight levels and sustaining significant injury that may last a lifetime. It is imperative that doctors of chiropractic become involved with this growing epidemic. I am very excited that the chiropractic community has taken a leadership position and created national focus on the issue of backpack injury."

On their website, COCSA offers two links of importance on this subject. The first is a Facts About Backpack Injury, and the second is Ways to Prevent Backpack Injury. Both these are available for free download in Adobe pdf format.