Back Pack Load Carried for Extended Time Dura...

Back Pack Load Carried for Extended Time Durations Correlated with Mean Ground Reaction Forceon the Plantar Aspect of the Foot of School Going Children’s Gait (A Descriptive Approach)

Author Name : Sandeep Singh Sokhi, Dhananjoy Shaw, Syed Murtaza Hussain Andrabi, Deepak Singh

Background: There has been a growing concern in the recent years regarding the backpack load carriage of school going children. Therefore, it is imperative to examine the changes that may exist in gait with backpack load carriage on mean ground reaction force(mGRF) distribution.

Objective: To examine the effect of various backpack loads carried for extended periods of time on the MGRF of school going children’s gait.

Participants: A total number of 85 school going children from Delhi NCR participated in this study.

Method: The mGRF of the children was recorded with a pressure platform (ZebrisInc; Germany (40x30 cm), supported with Win FDM-S software, Germany) at various backpack loads and time recordings.

Statistics used: To analyse the data we used a descriptive approach (mean, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation) and the findings have been illustrated with the help of line diagram (two dimensional).

Results: With the addition of backpack load there were definite progressive changes in the mGRF of the school going children.However, data showed no trend ofincrease or decrease of mGRF when a backpack load was carried for an extended periods of time. However, authors understand that interaction of load and time will be of great importance.

Conclusion: The changes in the mGRF puts the children at an increased risk of overuse injuries especially in the lower limb joints and at spine level.