Objective: To find out the prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort due to heavy backpacks in school going children.

Materials and Methods: This observational study recruited 200 students from different schools of Sargodha, Pakistan. Data was collected based on inclusive and exclusive criteria. The inclusive criteria were the students of 7^th and 8^th grades from different schools. The survey was done through self-validated questionnaire that included closed ended questions and weight machines were used to measure the weight of students and their backpacks. The data was analyzed and assembled through SPSS 23.0

Result: According to current study, 61.5% students had discomfort due to carrying backpacks while 38.5% students didn’t complain any discomfort. Moreover, 51.5% students had pain in shoulder, 6% in neck, 4.5% in back and 38% students didn’t feel any discomfort while carrying backpacks.

Conclusion: The study concluded that students suffer from shoulder, neck and back discomfort due to carrying heavy backpacks that are beyond the recommended safe load limit of 10% to 15%. Shoulder discomfort was the most commonly reported.

Keywords: Backpacks, Discomfort, Students