Abstract
The effect of backpack load walking on oxygen uptake and heart rate was studied on eight students using treadmill walking test. The backpack load corresponded to 10 % of each body weight, and the walking speed was set at from 3 to 8 kilometers an hour. The results obtained were inspected by the analysis of variance. 1) With respect to oxygen uptake, no significant difference was observed between the backpack load walking and the normal walking. 2) Concerning the heart rate, there appeared a significant difference (p<0.01) between the backpack load walking and normal walking at 5 kilometers an hour. The average rate of heart rate while walking with load showed 7.1 % higher than that while walking normally. With above results, it was concluded that the load carriage weighing 10 % of body weight was unsuitable for the therapeutic exercise, having only a slight effect on oxygen uptake and heart rate. On the other hand, this method is supposed to be used as the recreational activity for the aged or patients.
