Does carrying a backpack everyday really ruin your back?  

I think they are if the packs are too heavy but I have read it is worse by carrying a bag as then it is uneven carrying, here in Australia there has been a push to stop a lot of home work so the kids are not bogged down with too many books and too much home learning...

Hi rockerwitch, they are very hard on the back if thy are too heavy. They are also hard on the back if you don't wear them at the proper height and the proper way. It is almost a science to wear them so that you limit the affects on your back. If you go to a chiropractor then they can tell you the proper way to wear it. I do know that carrying shopping bags in your hands are harmful as well because of the unevenness as the person above said.:)

As long as you don't carry a lot more weight than you are accustomed to, then it shouldn't be harmful to you. Personally I used to train carrying backpacks weighing anything up to the equivalent of a small person, and I have no injuries - it's all a case of making sure you don't stress your muscles by carrying too much too quickly, also make sure that if you're carrying any amount of weight you wear the pack properly, with the straps secured and fairly tight (but not too tight) over both shoulders, this will help keep the weight distributed correctly and balanced.

its not my back thats ruined, its my shoulders, i always have to put cream and pain relievers on my shoulders because it aches a lot whether i carry backpacks or shoulder bags.

There was actually a study done in Canada a couple yrs ago (my mum who is a teacher there was telling me about it) on just this very topic and yes the students today are causing themselves physical damage by luggin things aroudn in a backpack...Its not actually the backpack itself though, its the sick amount of lbs worht of text/binders etc that they have to put INTO the pack thats doin it...

It's better to have a backpack than a book bag, or something of the sort. At least the backpack's weight is spread out, and evenly distributed on the left and right sides. You certainly can't say that about a book bag.

However, backpacks are much larger than book bags. People seem to have a tendency to want to stuff more things into the backpack, hence the reason why the backpack is bad for your back. Try not to put everything in there. Here's a general rule of thumb that I figure might work well. If you can't stand up straight for more than one or two minutes, you have too much in your backpack.

Heavy backpacks could cause back pain so try to minimize the weight, try to check the contents of your backpack to be sure there are no unnecessary things in it. Some suggest to change bags to prevent carrying things that you don't need for that occassion. I agree with you about the advantage of carrying a backpack than a handbag, handbags usually causes us to have bad postures because one shoulder is carrying something.