Is Your Bag To Blame For Your Back Pain?
If you’re anything like me, you have a bag for every occasion, most of which you sling over your shoulder and stuff full of life’s “necessities”. Spare clothes, shoes, makeup, planner, snacks: it’s a bottomless pit in there, even with smaller bags. But did you know that your heavy purse could be responsible for your back pain? Shoulders and necks can be affected too. Feeling sore, stiff, or achy in any of these areas? You might need to downsize your purse if:
You’re experiencing pain or aches your neck, shoulder, or back.
Over time, you may find your dominant side overcompensating, leaving you underdeveloped on your weaker side. You may even lean towards your bag-carrying side! Definitely not good, as this throws your alignment off and can cause pain in both shoulders, the neck, and the back.
You might notice you walk funny.
This might not be something you notice straight away, but toting a heavy bag around over one shoulder ruins our balance and can even change our gait, causing one leg to take longer strides to compensate.
You get painful tension headaches.
Constantly tensing and straining your muscles causes tension to radiate across your shoulders and up into your neck, giving you one hell of a tension headache.
You sometimes have numbness or tingling in your arm(s).
This goes back to the issue of tension, but the extra weight on your arm can also put pressure on your circulation and nerve endings causing you to feel numbness and/or tingling down your dominant arm.
You have problems lifting your bag.
This is an obvious sign that your bag is way too heavy. If it’s too heavy to lift, then it’s too heavy to carry. Start re-thinking what items you really need to have stashed away in your bag, and/or switch to a backpack so the weight is distributed evenly across both shoulders (which still might hurt your back if the weight is too much).
I wouldn’t dream of going out without my essentials, but I’ve cut the items down enough that they fit into a small, lightweight purse that forces me to re-think what I’ll need for the day (and if I’m careful, I can even fit a book in there!)
