Methods for Evaluation of Load-Carriage Systems

Abstract
In an effort to evaluate the effectiveness of a new load-carriage system on man, energy cost studies were done comparing the new system with a standard load-carriage system. Three different methods of treadmill walking were used for the comparison: (1) investigator controlled treadmill speed, (2) subject controlled treadmill speed, and (3) heart-rate controlled treadmill speed. Although none is entirely new, these three approaches provide practical means to measure the cost of work. Since there were no statistically significant differences between the two load-carriage systems, it was concluded that as long as weight is properly distributed over the body, weight per se is the most important factor in load carriage rather than the specific load-carriage system design.

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