Carrying textbooks and notebooks can weigh you down, which is why a purse is a bad replacement for a backpack.

Donna Hudson, 22, said that she used to use her purse as a backpack, but then had to stop because it was affecting her shoulder.

“I started to feel a pain in my right shoulder and knew that it was because of my purse, so I stopped using it.”

Laura Rudy, 25, has always used a purse to carry her school supplies.

“It is such a hassle having to transfer everything from your purse to your backpack.”

44-year old Brendon Bradley has been a chiropractor for 17 years and said that using a purse or a backpack can still greatly affect your spine.

“You really shouldn’t carry more than 10 percent of your body weight because anything beyond that starts to stress your spine.”

Bradley also said that by carrying a large load in a backpack, you are causing your spine to counterbalance the weight.

“It starts to put you in a forward posture and puts stress on your neck, which is in and of itself a problem.” A purse also causes significant damage to the spine as well. “Now with a purse you are carrying the same amount of weight, only now you are loading one side of your body in two biomechanical fields,” Bradley said. “Now you have to lean forward and to the side to counter balance that weight. So now you’ve added sheering forces to your lower back.”

Aside from experiencing pain in your back, you can also experience a disk injury.

“When people talk about disk injuries, disks are the pads between the vertebrate, the worst thing you can do to a disk is to put it under a load, flex forward, and then rotate.

“That’s what weakens a disk and allows a disk to herniate,” said Bradley.

If you do not have an immediate injury, Bradley said that you would experience a muscle imbalance.

There are a few tips Bradley recommends to help your spine.

“Lighten the load as much as you can and try switching shoulders and alternate the weight.”

Bradley also said doing some form of exercise or stretching routine is also very important in strengthening your back muscles.

“By carrying a purse, you are strengthening the abdominal muscles and weakening the back muscles.” When looking for a specific backpack that can help your back, there are a few options to consider.

“They do make some backpacks with plastic units in them that allow you to shelf the books, so it spreads the load out. Another good idea is a rolling backpack,” said Bradley.