The Change of the Trunk Muscles Activation in the Adolescent Carrying a Backpack with Belts

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study is to compare the EMG activities of the trunk muscles when carrying a backpack with belts and without belts. Background: This research aimed to explore the influence of carrying a backpack with belts on the trunk muscles activity and to suggest a desirable method of wearing backpacks. Method: Seventy five adolescents participated in this study. The EMG activities of upper trapezious, cervical erector spinae and rectus abdominis were collected. One way ANOVA was used to analyze the collected data. LSD was used for post-hoc test. Results: The EMG data from treadmill walking showed significant differences between carrying a backpack with belts and without belts for the cervical erector spinae and upper trapezious(p<.05) in all group(A Group: no belt, B Group: lumbar belt, C Group: lumbar-chest belt). In descending walking, significant difference were found for the cervical erector spinae and rectus abdominis in all group. In ascending walking, there were no significant differences in all group. LSD showed that the muscle activity of the trunk muscles decreased significantly when the lumbar belt and lumbar-chest belt were worn. Conclusion: The trunk muscles activities were decreased when the subjects were wearing a backpack with belts, comparing with wearing a backpack without belts. Application: These results can be used to provide useful information on how wearing a backpack in adolescent.

Type and wearing method-dependent COP and muscle fatigue measurement of baby carriers for the development of smart baby carriers

“…Carrying heavy loads or continuously bearing bags, not only puts the body under pressure (Whittfield et al , 2001), but such prolonged postures create tension that induces discomfort and muscular pain (Hong and Cheung, 2003). Various studies focused on alleviating such pressures have researched the ways of carrying heavy bags or bearing loads on one’s back, changes in postures, musculoskeletal diseases, and working postures that could decrease such discomfort (Kong and Yoon, 2012; Birrell and Haslam, 2010; da Costa and Vieira, 2008; Min et al , 2015). Some studies have measured changes in posture and muscle activity when walking with heavy loads (Motmans et al , 2006) and studies have been done evaluating the postural stability depending on the weight of the load being conducted (Ryew et al , 2014).…”