Background: There has been a growing concern on the musculoskeletal discomforts associated with heavy backpack carriage on health among school children who are at an important stage of growth and development. Class-based learning has pushed students to carrying heavy backpacks hence leaving them exposed to musculoskeletal problems.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the musculoskeletal discomforts and backpack carriage among school children in Bangladesh.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted by convenience sampling technique among 171 school children class five to seven at Uttam School and College in Rangpur, Bangladesh. This study was approved from the IRB, NIANER. Data was collected from February to March, 2022 by using self-administered structured and previously validated questionnaires. (1) Demographic data questionnaires consisting of two parts- Children and backpack related questionnaires, (2) Nordic Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaires. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and Pearson Chi-Square test.

Results: Results showed that the mean age was 12.09 year (SD=1.12). Majorities (54.4%) of the students were female and 45.6% were male. The mean weight of backpack was 5.32 kg (SD=.98). The results indicated that 95.3% of the students carried backpacks weighing more than 10% and only 4.7% carried backpacks weighing less than 10% of their body weight. Neck musculoskeletal discomforts were the most common for the 12-month (164; 95.5%) period. Findings also reveal that backpack weight percentage and musculoskeletal discomforts were statistically highly significant relationship respectively neck (c²=9.243, p=.002), shoulder (c²=27.947, p=.000), upper back (c²=24.088, p=.000), elbow (c²=8.692, p=.00 3), wrist (c²=8.898, p=.003), lower back (c²=41.095, p=.000), hips (c²=7.553, p=.007), knees(c²=7.058, p=.008) and ankles (c²=11.001, p=.001).

Conclusion: The study findings provide the first insights into backpack use and act as a baseline data for nurses to develop appropriate awareness to reduce the musculoskeletal discomforts related to backpack carriage among school children in Bangladesh. Further study is recommended to identify the factors related to musculoskeletal discomforts associated with backpack carriage among diverse school children.