Here we investigate a novel application for a load suspension that could be used to carry a load by hand, which is a common yet difficult method of load carriage and results in inherently asymmetric dynamics during load carriage.
Information from our four stages of assessment was utilised to guide the collation of research evidence regarding load-carriage related postural changes in young people, for variables such as load weight, method of load carriage (2 strapped backpack, 1 strapped backpack), position of load on the spine, time of load carriage, and distance of load carriage.
With such high loads, the method of load carriage is of major importance.
The effect of load weight [ 19, 20],[ 22- 25], method of load carriage (2 strapped backpack, 1 strapped backpack) [ 21, 22], position of the load on the spine [ 23], time of load carriage [ 20, 22], and distance of load carriage [ 19] on young people have been investigated in this manner.
The results indicate significant differences in mediolateral COP ranges, COP velocities and COP area with interaction in surface inclinations and methods of load carriage.
The overall prevalence of pneumococcal carriage in the Finnish dataset was low, even when a more sensitive method of detecting pneumococcal carriage was applied on samples from one of the day care centres.
When data from rooms F1 and F2 were reanalysed with a more sensitive method of detecting pneumococcal carriage, the proportion of positive samples increased from 27% (57/215) to 29% (62/215).
None of the physical factors (absolute/relative schoolbag weight, carrying an additional item, duration of carriage, method of travel to school) were associated with schoolbag-related discomfort.
Detection of pneumococcal carriage was based on a new method that allows more sensitive measurement of carriage of multiple pneumococcal populations in the same nasopharyngeal sample than the standard method.
Although more sensitive sampling methods might have detected higher rates of carriage, it is likely that our patients were subject to more antistaphylococcal decolonization measures than patients recruited to these studies.
To our knowledge, measurement of load carriage induced postural change is the only method of experimentally approximating the potential for load carriage to induce spinal pain that is currently used by researchers.
