Abstract:

Many people suffer from curve posture and back pain and mostly it effects children who wear heavy backpacks. This project will try to solve this problem and redesign the backpack to get rid of heaviness and instead of harming to hep improving the posture. Different way of backpack making will be tried as well as mixture of different materials will be used.

Introduction:

Nowadays people started to pay less attention to their posture comparing to previous generations. This is the effect of modern lifestyle when people live in a very fast temp and are exposed to stress. These makes nerves of the back being pinched what can be a cause of scoliosis progression. Especially it is related to children whose backs are still in the process of growing and forming.

KidsHealth 2010 says that the word scoliosis comes from a Greek word meaning crooked. If you have scoliosis, you're not alone. About 3 out of every 100 people have some form of scoliosis, though for many people it's not much of a problem. For a small number of people, the curve gets worse as they grow and they may need a brace or an operation to correct it.

It is interesting to do this project because serious problem can be solved and new redesigned backpack will help many people.

Being a design student it is sure to state that this project is a good practice before finding a job in design sphere, because this academic work asks creative thinking and problem solving which basically is the main what designer has to do. As well it could help to continue future education because this practice gives a knowledge which will make future projects easier or just will give a clear idea of problem solving in design.

Significant aim of the project is to find a good solution to improve children backpack, to get rid of back pain, correcting the posture and decreasing the heaviness of it.

Objectives of the project are following:

1. Consideration of the cause of the problem.
2. Market research and finding a gap.
3. Definition of the target audience most affected of this problem.

Hypothesis:

The new redesigned backpack for students will decrease heaviness and will help to avoid many back problems.

Literature review:

NHS 2009 states that back pain is a common condition that effects most people at some point during their life. Most cases of back pain are associated with pain and stiffness in the lower back.

The rates of reported cases of back pain in England have doubled over the past 40 years- a trend that is seen in almost all Western nations. There are a number of theories to explain the rise in the number of cases. One theory is that the rates of obesity, depression and stress are now higher than they were in the past. These conditions are all risk factors for chronic back pain. Another theory is that people are now more willing to report symptoms of pain to their general practitioner than they were in the past.

AskTheTrainer.com 2008 also thinks that our bodies can adapt to almost all physical activities we put ourselves through. Inactivity is an activity in itself and that is exactly what happens when hunch back posture problems arise.

You may think of sitting on the couch watching TV or slouching at your computer desk for endless hours as inactivity but your body is still functioning actively.

However, Patient UK Newspaper 2010 states that in children is much more likely to have a serious underlying disorder compared with adult back pain and deserves careful attention. Unfortunately the diagnosis of serious disease causing back pain in children is often made late or missed completely. However, although persistent back pain in children and adolescents is more often due to a specific or serious cause.

Lehman T.J.A. 2004 considers that when evaluating a child without an obvious injury, the first thing to consider is the age of the child. Young children (under the age of 10 years) rarely complain of back pain.

Older children (age 10 and up) are more likely to have mechanical complaints. These can be associated with carrying a heavy back pack, sport activities, or structural abnormalities.

Nashashibi W.J.Y. 2010 adds that according to a study conducted by Medscape, the leading cause of back pain in adolescents is strain as well as improper posture, most often resulting from excessive backpack weight. Carrying a heavy backpack can cause chronic, low level trauma, and chronic shoulder, neck and lower back pain. 50% of all students will have experienced some form of lower back pain by the age of 18, most often resulting from the constant pressure and strain on back muscles from carrying an overly heavy backpack. Minor back pain and chronic back tiredness resulting from a heavy load on one’s back is an indication of general wear and tear that makes a person susceptible to spinal disk herniation.

Research Methodology

It was decides to use a qualitative research as a mixture of close- ended and open- ended questionnaire. 25 different age group students will be participating in it. This will help to understand people attitude to the problem, to find how many of them suffer from curve posture or back pain. Also it will help to collect some new ideas about backpack design improvement.

During the research sources like journals, books and internet will be used. Also, own observation in the shops will be done to see what already exists in the market.

As the new backpack will be invented different engineering materials will be studied as well.

Design Methodology

Mood board, research board, pictures of existing products will be used as a visual design research to see the product in the abstraction level. Also, the PDS will be done to see how the product will be stored , delivered and sold. The testing of the product will be done as well, showing people the sketchbook with picture of the product and a questionnaire to find out the opinions and answer the question if the product actually works.

Ethics Approval

All the people participating in the questionaire have to be sure their answers will be confidential that is why they will receive the form about privacy policy as well as they have to receive all the answers and results about the project which will be made as table or pie diagrams. They will be given a participation sheet explaining reasons and aims of doing this project. So, every participant will sign the concern forms which will be kept in a secure place.

Bibliography

1) AskTheTrainer.com (2008). Hunch Back Posture Problems.

[Internet]. Available from: http://askthetrainer.com/

2) Hicks R. (2007). Back Curves. [Internet]. Available from:http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/physical_health/conditions/backcurves1.shtml

3) KidsHealth (2010). Scoliosis. [Internet]. Available from:http://kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/bone/scolio.html

4) Lehman T.J.A. (2004). Back pain in children and teenagers. [Internet]. Available from:

5) Nashashibi W.J.Y. (2010). Heavy backpacks create problems for teenagers nationwide. 17 march. [Internet]. Available from:

http://www.studentnewsaction.net/forum/topics/heavy-backpacks-create

6) Natural News (2010). Back pain news, articles and information. [Internet]. available from:http://www.naturalnews.com/back_pain.html

7) NHS (2009). Back pain. [Internet]. Available from: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/back-pain/Pages/Introduction.aspx

8) Patient UK newspaper (2010). Back pain in children. [Internet]. Available from:http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Back-Pain-in-Children.htm

9) Positive Heath Online (2009). Back Pain. [Internet]. Available from: http://www.positivehealth.com/article-list.php?subjectid=32