With the recent start of the 2026-2027 school year in the Dominican Republic, neurosurgeon Lizardi De la Cruz has issued a crucial warning regarding the physical risks students face. The specialist pointed out that the daily carrying of overloaded backpacks is a determining factor in the onset of lower back and dorsal pain, and may even aggravate pre-existing conditions such as scoliosis and other spinal deformities.<\/p>\n\n
During his speech at the 10th Congress of the Dominican Society of Spine Surgery, De la Cruz emphasized that the intense physical activities children perform while carrying their backpacks, added to the excessive weight of the books, significantly increase muscle discomfort.<\/p>\n\n
The best medicine is preventive medicine. Promoting proper postural hygiene and regular exercise from childhood are fundamental pillars to avoid spinal complications in adult life.<\/p>Dr. Lizardi De la Cruz, Neurosurgeon<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n
Recommendations to reduce physical impact<\/h2>\n\n
To mitigate these risks, the expert shared a series of practical recommendations aimed at both parents and educational institutions:<\/p>\n\n
- Prioritize the use of backpacks with wheels to prevent the weight from falling directly on the back.<\/li>
- Avoid using bags carried on a single shoulder, as they create postural imbalance.<\/li>
- Implement the use of lockers in schools to reduce the need to carry all books daily.<\/li>
- Organize school materials strictly based on the class schedule for each day.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n
The physician clarified that, while a heavy backpack is not a direct cause of a hernia, it does act as a severe aggravating factor in children who already have some bone alteration. Likewise, he highlighted that excess body weight also negatively influences by subjecting the spine to additional strain.<\/p>\n\n
2026-2027 school year context<\/h2>\n\n
This concern for student health arises at a key moment, following the opening of the 2026-2027 school year on August 24th. The national education system has welcomed more than 2.6 million students, distributed across the public, private, and semi-official sectors, under the supervision of more than 120,000 teachers throughout the country.<\/p>\n\n
The official opening ceremony was led by President Luis Abinader, accompanied by the Minister of Education, Luis Miguel De Camps, and First Lady Raquel Arbaje, marking the beginning of a new academic stage where the comprehensive health of students must be a priority alongside learning.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Medical alert: Excessive weight in school backpacks compromises student health With the recent start of the 2026-2027 school year in the Dominican Republic, neurosurgeon Lizardi De la Cruz has issued a crucial warning regarding the physical risks students face. The specialist pointed out that the daily carrying of overloaded backpacks is a determining factor in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":147654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12809],"tags":[13443,14256,13,2695],"class_list":{"0":"post-147653","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national","8":"tag-backpacks","9":"tag-column","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-students"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}