'Mom, My Back Really Hurts'

摘要

At age 15, Elizabeth Nemrava, of Winnetka, Ill., suffers from shoulder and back pain so severe that she winces when she bends over or abruptly twists around. Her mother, Pat, is convinced the problem stems from the heavy backpack that her daughter, now a high school sophomore, has been hauling around since middle school. "Elizabeth weighs 110 pounds, and her backpack weighs 38," her mother says. "That has to be straining her muscles and bones."