Maximum acceptable weight of manual load carriage for young Taiwanese males

This study examined the maximum acceptable weight of carriage (MAWC) for young Taiwanese males experienced in manual load carriage tasks. The elements of the examined load carriage tasks included lifting a box from the floor to the waist height, turning around while holding the box, carrying the box at the waist height for a distance, lowering the box to the floor, turning around, and walking unloaded back to the original position. Subjects performed the load carriage tasks over different levels of carriage distance, frequency, box width (sagittal dimension), and handle according to a response surface design. The results showed that subjects' MAWC decreased with carriage distance, frequency and box width, while heart rate and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) increased with carriage distance, frequency and box width. The MAWC for box with handles was on average 1.5 kg more than that for box without handles, while the effects of handle on heart rate and RPE were very trivial.