title: Energetics of load carrying in Nepalese porters.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Unité de Physiologie et Biomécanique de la Locomotion, Faculté de Médecine, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium.
authors.forename: Guillaume J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Bastien
authors.forename: Bénédicte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schepens
authors.forename: Patrick A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Willems
authors.forename: Norman C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Heglund
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000531:Altitude; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001835:Body Weight; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D005260:Female; D006257:Head; D006801:Humans; D017770:Lifting; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009390:Nepal; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D010807:Physical Endurance; D005082:Physical Exertion; D016138:Walking; D016474:Weight-Bearing
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide