Greenbaum's Sylvia Dorney: Ergonomic backpack fits this daily walker to a T
January/February 2012 | Willamette Woman of the Statesman Journal
"Carrying everything would be a chore for the average woman, but when Dorney saw the BackTpack two years ago at Quiltopia, she knew she had to have it for walking to work. It also comes in handy at market and when she travels, she says." Read the complete article.
BackTpack featured on Red Cross emergency preparedness blog
November 30, 2011 | +Blog
"This is a company doing something new. Marilyn Miller von Foerster is a physical therapist, dedicated to her field. Through her work, which focuses on prevention rather than treatment, she is an innovator in health and has now entered the arena of disaster preparedness.... Read the complete article.
APTA Endorses BackTpack
February 9, 2007 | PRNewswire
ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) has endorsed the BackTpack(R), an innovative carrying system that uses the vertical force of gravity to ensure proper alignment of the skeleton, developed by physical therapist and APTA member Marilyn of... Read the complete article at goliath.com
BackTpack Featured in Statesman Journal, "Physical therapist has got your back"
July 9, 2011 | statesmanjournal.com
Vern Miller, from what I've read, was quite the go-getter. The local surgeon turned mayor pushed to create a civic center, with city hall, public library and police station near downtown, and today that center bears his name.
He left a legacy of civic spirit that resulted in other improvements to the city, and never backed down in the face of opposition.
His daughter, Marilyn Miller von Foerster, has the same determination and passion for serving the community, but goes about it in a less public way.
"My father was a real public servant and inspired us to help when we knew we could do something," von Foerster said. "He would act for the well-being of people, and I think that's ingrained in me."
Von Foerster is a physical therapist whose mission is to promote back and spinal health. She created a carrying system called the BackTpack, which she refers to as a healthy alternative to a traditional backpack... Download the complete PDF article.
BackTpack featured on KATU Channel 2 and CNN.com!
August 6, 2009 | By Angelica Thornton KATU News and KATU.com Staff | KATU Television
SALEM, Ore. ‚ Because most children wear backpacks the wrong way and suffer pain, bad posture and injuries, Salem physical therapist Marilyn Miller Von Foerster redesigned a new school bag, called the BackTpack. The new backpack was tested on 40 middle school students who gave it favorable reviews. It went from about 68 percent of students with pain to 12 percent, just with the given load, said Miller Von Foerster. I asked if they stand or walk differently and about 80 percent said I stand straighter...
Watch the Video on KATU.com
GOOD Baggage. How to lighten your load and send back pain packing
Family Magazine Group - 2009
BackTpack has been selected as one of the winners of a 2009 Family Choice Awards (FCA). BackTpack was featured in the January issue of the following magazines: Los Angeles Family, Santa Clarita Family, South Bay Family, San Gabriel Family, and Ventura Family. Family Choice Award coverage is targeted directly to parents who seek the winners of these coveted awards as top recommendations for their buying decisions "from the source they trust most".
BackTpack wins Gold Award from Family Review Center
Family Review Center - 2009
Family Review Center awards BackTpack with a Gold product award!
BackTpack featured in Exceptional Parent!
Exceptional Parent
BackTpack featured in Exceptional Parent magazine! Click here to view a PDF of the article... Exceptional Parent Article
Text from the article:
"The BackTpack carrying bag is designed to load on the spinal axis to improve and train good posture, body mechanics, balance, reduce pain, and provide ease and security while carrying everyday items. Features include a "sit strap" that allows the wearer to sit with the bag on while the load transfers off the shoulders and spine, a headphone port for ease in use of auditory equipment, a water bottle holder and multiple compartments on both sides. An optional hip loading accessory is available for those who should not have a spinal loading system."
A Revolutionary Healthy School Bag at the WOU Bookstore
We have all heard about, and probably felt! the pain and injury of using a backpack for school, but there has been no good solution. A physical therapist/mom from West Salem has provided a healthy solution called BackTpack, recently endorsed by the American Physical Therapy Association.
Instead of loading everything in one compartment on the back, the load is divided into two side bags so it centers over the axis of the skeleton balancing the load and strengthening the postural system to be tall and straight, as it is designed to function with gravity. The result is better posture, much less pain, ease of movement and access at all times. You can sit or ride a bike comfortably while wearing the BackTpack, with better balance on your bike.
WOU dance Professor, Sharon Oberst is eager to have her students as well as her daughter, train proper posture by using the BackTpack instead of the conventional school bags. You can view the study done on middle school students and more information on the website: www.backtpack.com Stop by the Bookstore and try one on with a book or two inside. You will feel the difference.
BackTpack News Release from retail store Twig (Chapel Hill, NC)
Physical Therapist Mom Invents Revolutionary BackTpack; Now Available Locally at Twig in Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC,
September 14, 2009
Twig, an eco-friendly specialty store in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, is proud to announce they have been selected as one of a very few authorized BackTpack retail dealers in the state of North Carolina. The BackTpack system is an innovative ergonomic alternative to the traditional backpack or book bag. Download the
complete pdf article
BackTpack Can Save Lives!
Posted October 6, 2009
The article below points out the seriousness of treating back pain with medication rather than solving the mechanical cause by training proper posture and body mechanics.
The following statement was taken from the article "Drug deaths overtake traffic fatals in Oregon, 15 other states": which appeared in the
statesmanjournal.com
About half of the opiate medication deaths in King County, Wash., which includes Seattle, involved people who got their drugs through legal prescriptions, said Caleb Banta-Green, a University of Washington research scientist. There has been a dramatic change in how doctors prescribe opiates, Banta-Green said. In the 1990s, he said, doctors began recognizing that chronic pain was undertreated. The prescribing of painkillers escalated after that. Today, about one in five U.S. adults and one in 10 adolescents are prescribed an opiate each year, he said.
Persistent Pain may Accelerate Signs of Aging by Two to Three Decades
Younger people with pain look similar in terms of their disability to people who are two to three decades older without pain, according to a study published in this month's (Sept, '09) issue of the Journal of the American Geriatric Society. The results of the study uncovered that people with pain develop the functional limitations classically associated with aging at much earlier ages. Read more at news-line.com
Back pain? Then take a load off
September 9, 2008 | The Orlando Sentinel
You haul 16 tons, and what do you get? If your answer is "back pain," the BackTpack is here to help. The weight in a regular backpack is all behind you, causing you to hunch over to compensate. In the long run, of course, that's bad news. Read the complete story on orlandosentinel.com
Unusual pack saves your back
July 28, 2008 - 7:32PM | CHRISTOPHER SHORT | THE GAZETTE
You haul 16 tons, and what do you get? If your answer is "back pain," the BackTpack is here to help. The weight in a regular backpack is all behind you, causing you to hunch over to compensate. In the long run, of course, that's bad news. Read the complete story on gazette.com
BackTpack backpack alternative
May 25, 2008 | Ronnie Gill | Newsday.com
DOES IT WORK? Traveling can literally be a pain in the neck and back, the reason BackTpack was designed by a physical therapist. This alternative backpack, which is worn like a sleeveless jacket, has padded adjustable shoulder straps, adjustable chest and hip straps with front clip closures, and equal-size padded compartments on either side of the body.
BackTpack - News and Reviews
November/December, 2007 | Walk About Magazine, Vol. 5, No. 1, pg. 5
While trekking in Nepal in the early 80's, Marilyn von Foerster, owner of BackTpack, first learned how carrying systems affect posture. The elegant posture and movement of the Nepalese people made a strong impression on her as a physical therapist. She tried their tumpline system and was enlightened about her own movement! Read the complete article at walkaboutmag.com
BackTpack
March 1, 2005 | April Streeter | Sustainable Industries Magazine
It's not the load students carry, it's the way they are loaded, says Marilyn von Foerster, designer of a side-loading satchel called BackTPack. A physical therapist specializing in rehabilitating bad backs and fostering good posture and usage, von Foerster is convinced that backs were never designed to carry a nylon bag stuffed full of textbooks.Read the complete story at sustainableindustries.com
