In the last few years, it seems as though bags, purses, backpacks and totes have become ever more gigantic – most people, particularly women,
just can't help but fill those bags up to maximum capacity - until
they’re about as weighed down as the neighborhood mail carrier.

As a result, increasing reports of shoulder soreness, strained muscles, stiff necks and joint pain are on the rise and doctors, massage therapists and chiropractors are forced to tailor treatments for the
bag-obsessed.

“In the last year or so, I’ve been seeing the same kinds of issues with adults that I’m used to seeing with kids who carry heavy backpacks on one shoulder,” said Karen Erickson, a chiropractor and spokeswoman
for the American Chiropractic Association. “They’re experiencing neck
pain — not just while they’re carrying their purses and bags, but all
the time. A lot of people even get bad headaches.”

The American Chiropractic Association recommends that no bag weigh more than 10 percent of its owner’s body weight.

“Lately, when a patient comes in complaining of these neck, back and/or shoulder pain symptoms, I walk over and pick up their bag,” she added. “Without fail, it weighs a ton.”

For the past several months, Robin Ehrlich, the director of the Eastside Massage Therapy Center on the Upper East Side, has observed clients old and new staggering under the weight of huge purses and
griping about neck pain. “It’s an epidemic,” Ms. Ehrlich said. “We’re
busier than ever before right now and big bags are the reason.”

A common side effect is that one shoulder becomes slightly higher than the other, she said. “A lot of women talk on their cellphones while they’re carrying these bags, which only intensifies the problem,
because in addition to balancing too much weight on one side, they’re
lifting the shoulder at the same time.”

Dr. David Golden, an orthopedic surgeon who practices sports medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills, Calif., said the effects of carrying a heavy purse are similar to those of exercising too
strenuously. “The good news is, the pain will be temporary,” he said.
“You usually need to carry 50 pounds or more to cause lasting back
damage.”

Generally, if a person comes in fairly early in the process, they may be better in as little as six weeks,' she asserts. But if they've been carrying heavy bags for a long time with no treatment, and have a lot of
deeply ingrained muscle imbalance and nerve problems, that can take
more like four months to heal.

Doctors know better than to convince people to stop loading up those huge bags, and see it as unrealistic. Instead, they recommend a few tips so control the pain caused by bag abuse:...

CONTINUE READING AT BlackDoctor.org