It's back to school and backpacks. "As the twig is bent, so grows the tree."

You'll want to read this commentary by posture guru, Dr. Weiniger, about backpacks and tips for prevention of back pain in response to a posting in the Wall Street Journal: "It's a really valuable tool, like a car trunk,"Pam Jones, senior designer at L.L. Bean  about their Turbo Transit II backpack AKA " the minivan".    It's LL Beans fastest growing by sales and largest pack ( 2,400 cubic inches) with the capacity of a small dorm refrigerator."   Dr. Weiniger's response: "The comic/social commentator George Carlin does a riff about consumerism, saying that we need to buy "stuff" to fill our house, and then need a bigger house so we can get more "stuff", which then fills so we need a bigger house, ad infinitum. Training kids to carry a dorm room (oops..I mean fridge) on their back would be a funny extension of that riff...if it were not so sad. I am writing this on Friday afternoon and can see kids getting off a schoolbus, some with backpacks the size of their torso. Besides training kids minds into consumerism, we are training them to hunched over postures and the resultant effects on health.  Because it is physically possible to load more onto a child does not make it wise or desirable (except for those of us who will help them in 20 years when they suffer from back pain and other posture problems).  -Dr. Weiniger
How Heavy Can a Backpack Get? Wall Street Journal, August 31, 2011

If you would like to schedule a posture check-up with us, don't hesitate to call.

I came across an article about the top ten abdominal exercises while clearing one of my desks. I thought I'd post it because it's to the point, doable for many, and most exercises require no special equipment. Six-pack abs can be in your (our?) future! :-) Here's the link:

Top 10 Abdominal Exercises

If you have any back conditions, go easy, and feel free to call us at 919.460.1115 for an evaluation so we can help and advise you.

All my best, Dr. Levitt