Differences between Male and Female Psychophysically Determined Maximum Acceptable Forces of a Cart Pushing Tasks

Abstract

The purpose of this experiment was to compare the differences in maximum acceptable initial and sustained forces between males and females while performing a 7.6 m pushing task at a frequency of 1 min^-1 on a high-inertia pushcart and to compare those differences with the gender differences of our criterion magnetic particle brake treadmill push task (Snook and Ciriello, 1991). Eleven female and eight male industrial workers performed two 2- hour pushcart tasks in the context of a larger experiment. The results revealed that maximum acceptable initial and sustained forces of pushing for women on the pushcart were 67% and 69% of the initial and sustained forces for men, comparable to our magnetic particle brake treadmill push task data. These findings may indicate that adjustments to our pushing data may not be necessary if replication of this experiment yields similar results.