Publication Date:
2005-06-18
Description:
Nepalese porters routinely carry head-supported loads equal to 100 to 200% of their body weight (Mb) for many days up and down steep mountain footpaths at high altitudes. Previous studies have shown that African women carry head-supported loads of up to 60% of their Mb far more economically than army recruits carrying equivalent loads in backpacks. Here we show that Nepalese porters carry heavier loads even more economically than African women. Female Nepalese porters, for example, carry on average loads that are 10% of their Mb heavier than the maximum loads carried by the African women, yet do so at a 25% smaller metabolic cost.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Bastien, Guillaume J -- Schepens, Benedicte -- Willems, Patrick A -- Heglund, Norman C -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2005 Jun 17;308(5729):1755.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Unite de Physiologie et Biomecanique de la Locomotion, Faculte de Medecine, Universite catholique de Louvain, Belgium.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15961662" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Adult
;
Aged
;
Altitude
;
Biomechanical Phenomena
;
*Body Weight
;
Carbon Dioxide
;
*Energy Metabolism
;
Female
;
Head
;
Humans
;
*Lifting
;
Male
;
Middle Aged
;
Nepal
;
Oxygen Consumption
;
Physical Endurance
;
*Physical Exertion
;
*Walking
;
*Weight-Bearing
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
