Abstract
A study was conducted with an aim to determine the changes of human lower limb biomechanics biomechanics while carrying loads in selective modes among industrial workers of India and to suggest the biomechanically efficient mode of load carriage. Industrial workers (n = 20) in the age range of 22 to 58 years were selected and asked to carry loads on head, across one shoulder and in hands. Qualisys Motion Capture System (Sweden), Kistler Force Plate (Switzerland) and Polar S810i HR monitor, Finland were used to record data. Heart rate was recorded at rest and during select modes of load carriage with 40% of individual body weight i.e. loads on head, shoulder and hand. Walking speed for head load, shoulder load and hand load were 4.19 ± 0.55 km.hr−1, 4.09 ± 0.82 km.hr−1 and 3.94 ± 0.84 km.hr−1 respectively. Double limb support time while carrying loads has been found lowest in case of head mode (0.65 ± 0.46 s) followed by hand mode (0.67 ± 0.14 s) and shoulder mode (0.68 ± 0.06 s) of load carriage. There is a gradual increase in hip flexon from head to shoulder and hand load condition and gradual decrease in ground reaction force from head to shoulder and hand load conditions. Considering the changes in the physiological parameters along with the biomechanical parameters, head load was found to be more productive in comparison to shoulder and hand load modes. Results demonstrated a significant changes in kinetic and kinematic parameters of workers at selective load conditions. Findings would provide substantial input for designing work and work rest cycle for different industrial manual workforce.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Butler P, Engelbrecht M, Major RE, Tait JH, Stallard J, Patrick JH (1984) Physiological cost index of walking for normal children and its use as an indicator of physical handicap. Dev Med Child Neurol 26(5):607–612 ISSN 0012-1622
Fredericson M, Yoon K (2006) Physical examination and patellofemoral pain syndrome. Am J Phys Med Rehabil 85(3):234–243 ISSN 0894-9115
Guha Thakurta A, Iqbal R, De A (2017) The influence of three different load carrying methods on gait parameters of Indian construction workers. MOJ Anat Physiol 3(4):00098
Kinoshita H (1985) Effects of different loads and carrying systems on selected biomechanics parameters describing walking gait. Ergonomics 28(9):1347–1362 ISSN 0014-0139
Legg SJ (1985) Comparison of different modes of load carriage. Ergonomics 28(1):197–202
Maki BE (1997) Gait changes in older adults: predictors of falls or indicators of fear? J. Am Geriatr Soc 45(3):313–320 ISSN 0002-8614
Mossberg KA, Linton KA, Friske K (1990) Ankle-foot orthoses: effect on energy expenditure of gait in spastic diplegic children. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 71(7):490–494 ISSN 0003-9993
Mukherjee G, Samanta A (2001) Physiological response to the ambulatory performance of hand-rim and arm-crank propulsion systems. J Rehabil Res Dev 38(4):391–399 ISSN 0748-7711
Rose J, Gamble JG, Burgos A, Medeiros J, Haskell WL (1990) Energy expenditure index of walking for normal children and for children with cerebral palsy. Dev Med Child Neurol 32(4):333–340 ISSN 0012-1622
Shkuratova N, Morris ME, Huxham F (2004) Effects of age on balance control during walking. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 85(4):582–588 ISSN 0003-9993
Suzuki T, Sonoda S, Saitoh E, Murata M, Uno A, Shimizu Y, Kotake T (2005) Development of a novel type of shoe to improve the efficiency of knee-ankle-foot orthoses with a medial single hip joint (Primewalk orthoses): a novel type of shoe for Primewalk orthosis. Prosthet Orthot Int 29(3):303–311 ISSN 0309-3646
Thakurta AG, Iqbal R, Bhasin HV, De A, Khanzode V, Maulik S (2015) Characteristics of gait variability among healthy Indian construction workers during different load carrying modes. In: Ergon in caring for people. Proceedings of the international conference on humanizing work and work environment 2015, pp 9–16 ISBN 978–981-10-4979-8
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Iqbal, R., Thakurta, A.G. (2019). Influence of Select Modes of Load Carriage on Movement Biomechanics of Industrial Workers. In: Bagnara, S., Tartaglia, R., Albolino, S., Alexander, T., Fujita, Y. (eds) Proceedings of the 20th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA 2018). IEA 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 819. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96089-0_63
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96089-0_63
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-96088-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-96089-0
eBook Packages: Intelligent Technologies and RoboticsIntelligent Technologies and Robotics (R0)