Investigation of the effect of backpack carrying methods on balance on flat and inclined surfaces in high school students

This study was planned in order to investigate how different backpack carrying habits affect the balance of high school students on flat and inclined floors. The study was carried out on 44 (24 male, 20 female) students with a mean age of 15.98 ± 1.33 years. After the sociodemographic data of the subjects were recorded, evaluations were made about posture and used backpack. Static and dynamic balances were evaluated with the Bertec balance platform in total of 6 different conditions in which individuals used three different backpack carrying methods (without backpack, single shoulder backpack, double shoulder backpack) on flat and inclined floors. As a result of the study, it was found that the dynamic balances of the individuals on anteroposterior direction in all backpack carrying conditions on the flat floor were higher than the similar bag carrying conditions on the inclined surface and the difference was statistically significant (p<0,01). There was a significant difference between the anteroposterior dynamic balance values of different backpack carrying methods on inclined floor (p=0,001) and intragroup binary comparisons, it was seen that the difference was caused by the difference between without backpack and double-shoulder backpack carrying conditions. Significant differences were found between the lateral direction static equilibrium values of the backpack carrying methods (except for; flat ground-soft surface-eyes open-double shoulder backpack carrying condition and inclined ground-soft surface-eyes closed-double shoulder bags carrying condition) on flat and inclined surfaces when they were compared within themselves (p<0,05). As a result, carrying the backpack affects the balance negatively on both flat and inclined surfaces, but this effect is usually more on the inclined floor. Keywords: Backpack, balance, inclined surface