TY - JOUR
T1 - Physiological evaluation of a wheeled assistive device for load carriage
AU - Ketko, Itay
AU - Yanovich, Ran
AU - Plotnik, Meir
AU - Gefen, Amit
AU - Heled, Yuval
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 National Strength and Conditioning Association.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Carrying heavy weight imposes high physiological strain on the human body, which can adversely affect physical performance. This is especially important for soldiers whose physical performance level may influence mission completion and survival. Recently, wheel-based devices (WBDs), designed to reduce the load on the soldier, have been suggested as a possible solution. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the physiological effects of a proposed WBD prototype. Ten volunteers performed 3 exercise protocols on a treadmill as follows: without carrying any load, with a military backpack, and with the WBD. While using both modalities, they carried 40% of their body weight. Data acquisition included heart rate, body core temperature, oxygen consumption, and subjective comfort. Postural sway was also measured to evaluate the effect of WBD on standing balance. There were no significant differences between the physiological measures while using both modalities. Subjective comfort evaluation showed that the WBD may be more comfortable, yet it raises difficulty in maintaining balance while walking, as can be explained by the postural sway results. We suggest that the similarity in physiological strain while using the WBD was due to reduced walking efficiency in an attempt to maintain balance. It appears that the WBD may have some biomechanical advantages in reducing the subjective pain and pressure at the shoulder region, a matter that should be further examined together with other biomechanical measures.
AB - Carrying heavy weight imposes high physiological strain on the human body, which can adversely affect physical performance. This is especially important for soldiers whose physical performance level may influence mission completion and survival. Recently, wheel-based devices (WBDs), designed to reduce the load on the soldier, have been suggested as a possible solution. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the physiological effects of a proposed WBD prototype. Ten volunteers performed 3 exercise protocols on a treadmill as follows: without carrying any load, with a military backpack, and with the WBD. While using both modalities, they carried 40% of their body weight. Data acquisition included heart rate, body core temperature, oxygen consumption, and subjective comfort. Postural sway was also measured to evaluate the effect of WBD on standing balance. There were no significant differences between the physiological measures while using both modalities. Subjective comfort evaluation showed that the WBD may be more comfortable, yet it raises difficulty in maintaining balance while walking, as can be explained by the postural sway results. We suggest that the similarity in physiological strain while using the WBD was due to reduced walking efficiency in an attempt to maintain balance. It appears that the WBD may have some biomechanical advantages in reducing the subjective pain and pressure at the shoulder region, a matter that should be further examined together with other biomechanical measures.
KW - core temperature
KW - energy consumption
KW - exercise
KW - postural sway
KW - soldier
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84964907558&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1519/JSC.0000000000001032
DO - 10.1519/JSC.0000000000001032
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AN - SCOPUS:84964907558
SN - 1064-8011
VL - 29
SP - S139-S143
JO - Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research
JF - Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research
ER -