EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT LOADS AND CARRYING SYSTEMS ON SELECTED BIOMECHANICAL PARAMETERS DESCRIBING WALKING GAIT

Ten healthy males who were not regularly engaged in carrying tasks walked a distance of 20 m for ten trials for each of the following five conditions: (i) normal walking without any external load; (ii) 20% and (iii) 40% body weight carried using a backpack system; and (iv) 20% and (v) 40% body weight carried using a doublepack system which distributed the load equally between the front and back of the subjects. Comparisons using a one-way ANOVA with repeated measures were conducted to examine differences between parameters describing the load-carrying conditions and normal gait. Results from the analysis revealed that both the light and heavy loads substantially modified the normal walking gait pattern. Results suggest that the doublepack system was more effective than the conventional backpack system, especially for carrying the heavy load.