Women today sure do a lot of heavy lifting!
I don’t mean the double shift they put in at work and at home. I’m talking about heavy handbags – the bigger, the better. Though one British retailer claims that the weight of purses has dropped since 2007, one look at spring 2010 lines from fashion greats such as Hermes, Dior, Givenchy, Robert Cavalli, Coach and more indicate otherwise. Seriously big purses are still today’s style icons.
Size matters: Women carry everything (from wallets to water, from painkillers to small umbrellas, from books to baby diapers) in their bags.
But big or small, handbags aren’t the healthiest accessory to tote around. “I have one of those large purses myself,” says physiotherapist Shelly Malcolm Beazley, a member of the Nova Scotia Physiotherapy Association. “You tend to put more in them.”
Malcolm Beazley says she sees patients with neck, shoulder or back pain: “The type of injuries that result from big bags would be shoulder and neck strains because the muscles that help to raise the shoulder when you are carrying a purse attach to your shoulder blade and your neck.”
When you’re carrying a heavy purse, you shrug that shoulder more in order to keep the purse balanced. “As a result, you are overusing these postural muscles and that can increase the compression felt on the neck. It also can increase nerve pressure,” explains Malcolm Beazley who treats patients out of The Physio Clinic in Halifax.
If the purse is super heavy, its weight can even throw off your gait pattern. “And if someone is wearing a fashionable large purse, chances are they are also in high heels – and that adds to the strain on hips, knees and ankles.”
But women are used to carrying loads – aren’t they? After all, your average two year old weighs more than the heaviest of purses! “It’s different lifting a baby,” notes Malcolm Beazley. “We tend to stick out the hip to do so.”
Don’t think that a long, skinny purse strap will help you. Malcolm Beazley says the longer, skinnier straps only cause you to shrug your shoulders more: “The thicker shorter strap is a better choice,” she says. “Even better is a strap that is worn diagonally across the chest.”
Lighten your load, is this physiotherapist’s advice: Clean your purse regularly. Also carry the load closer to your body, change shoulders often, and set the purse down when you have a chance. Try leaving a second bag in your car, so everything isn’t in the purse you are carrying around with you.”
Dirty, if not unhealthy purses, prompted Montreal’s Jeannie Vondjidis to manufacture The Purse Hooker, a handy collapsible hook that latches onto any flat surface and keeps handbags off grimy floors. Vondjidis and her partner Nicole Authier formed My Tagalongs, an accessory company whose products (available across Canada at The Bay) also include The Purse-Onifier, a compartmentalized purse insert that allows you to change purses quickly – and keep purse insides germ free.
“Your handbags end up in the dirtiest places – bathrooms, airports, hairdressing salon floors scattered with other people’s hairs,” says Vondjidis who is especially alert to the whereabouts of her purse during H1N1 season. “Then you come home and put your purse on the kitchen counter where you’re preparing food. How unhygienic!”
Results of a survey done by her company revealed that women’s handbags were dirty and filled with crushed tampons and old lipsticks. Given the prices of today’s purses (Hundreds, if not $1,000 plus!) Vondjidis says that keeping them clean is a must. “Bags are not getting smaller,” she says. “You have kids to pack for, makeup, sunglasses, keys, a wallet, I-Pod, Blackberry, snacks and sometimes even shoes. It’s easy to toss whatever in there. There’s a lot of stuff.”
Healthier handbags
Use caution in cars, says physiotherapist Shelly Malcolm Beazley who explains that injuries happen when women in the driver’s seat reach around to the back seat to yank their purses forward. Other hefty bag tips:
Alternate shoulders if you carry a big purse
Choose a purse with wide straps which help distribute weight over a broader area of your shoulder
Backpack-style purses are easiest on your back
Unpack your tote: Keep essentials in a separate smaller carry around purse and leave the rest in the car or in your office
Bag-teria
This H1N1 season means your purse has been a double carrier – a tote for all your stuff and a vehicle for microbes, germs and viruses. To keep your purse clean and you, healthier:
Use a purse hook to keep your purse off dirty floors
Use a sanitizer daily to wipe the exterior and strap of your purse
Clean out your purse regularly. If you can, toss it in the wash or turn it inside out and wipe off any excess debris that’s gathered
Repeat the above process with your wallet
Backpack basics
Pack by weight, not size, and place the heaviest items closest to your back. Worn correctly and not overloaded, backpacks are supported by the back and abdominal muscles for proper balance and alignment. According to the Canadian Physiotherapy Association (www.physiotherapy.ca), look for these features in any backpack:
A padded back to reduce pressure and prevent the pack’s contents from digging into your back
Padded, contoured shoulder and chest straps; adjust shoulder straps so the bottom of the pack sits two inches above your waist
Waist belt or hip strap to distribute some of the load to the pelvis
