can you help me?

If you expect a good answer, you must supply the sentence in which the expression appears. I have never heard the expression "have a stick on one's back," and cannot, frankly, help you unless you supply the sentence in which you have read this.

thans all the same
the sentence is that " Bess was very poor, she was always in rags or even had a stick to her back."

how about "rod" rather than stick.