Abstract
A frontal mailbag was designed which loads the spine centrally, and distributes the weight over both shoulders. The new mailbag was compared with the traditional lateral mailbag. Ten males walked on a treadmill while carrying the two bags weighted with varying loads and physiological measures were taken. Heart rate and oxygen consumption were significantly lower when the load was carried in the new design than when carried in the traditional mailbag. In addition, heart rate and oxygen consumption increased at a slower rate for the new bag design than it did for the traditional mailbag. Results clearly showed the new frontal bag to be the physiologically superior way of carrying loads when compared to the traditional lateral mailbag design.
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