The biomechanics effects of back and front pack load carriage for human locomotion

This paper described an investigation into the biomechanical effects of back and front load carriage on human locomotion performance. Ten young male subjects walked on a level under five conditions (10kg front pack, 20kg front pack, without load, 10kg backpack and 20kg backpack). For each subject, the self-selected speed was maintained at all conditions to minimize the effect of speed on gait dynamics. The kinematic and kinetic effects results during front pack or back pack load carriage were obtained with walking experiments. Analysing kinematics and kinetic during different carriage broadens the knowledge regarding the development of exercise-related injuries, while helping to inform the human-centred design process for future load carrying systems.