[pct-l] On the Dangers of the UL Mentality

[Yoshihiro Murakami]

Dear Sean 'Miner' Nordeen

I became anxious about the ergomics, and I searched several papers,
which may be important for hiker. I will report in near future.

today's important finding:

According to Abe et al. (2004 ) reported in Journal  of Applied
Ergonomics 35, 329-335. , eight young men walked on a treadmill at
various speed with ankle weight ( 0, 1, 1.5, 3 Kg for each leg), and
energy consumption per walking speed were measured. The results were
astonishing. The energy consumption 1, 1.5 conditions were slightly
higher than that of 0 Kg condition, but not statistically significant.
When walking speed became slower, they  were completely no difference
with that of 0 Kg condition.  I thought this experiment indicated that
it is no use to worry about boots weight, if the weight of each boot
is less than 1.5 Kg, there is no difference on the  energy
consumption.

I am asking for old ergnomic papers. Later, I will report. But I think
they are outdated valueless papers.





2010/5/8 Sean 'Miner' Nordeen <sean at lifesadventures.net>:
> U.S. Army treadmill tests in 1969 found that an extra pound on the foot exacted the same energy output as an extra 3.5 to 5.25 pounds on the back. Similar tests published in "Ergonomics" in 1986 concluded that a pound on the foot equals 6.4 pounds on the back.
>
> Now I've never actually looked for the original source material of the above claims, but it's considered common knowledge and everyone seems to accept it so I have.  Assuming its true, then there is a huge difference in wearing a 2lbs pair of shoes and a 5lb pair of boots.
>
> Even ignoring the weight issue, I like hiking in shoes as as I get less blisters and my feet doesn't get as sweaty.  I've actually fallen and twisted my ankle more wearing boots (not the really tall ones); one of the reasons is I always seem to catch the upper metal lace hooks on one boot with the others boots laces.  After I switched to shoes, I also started to do my training on uneven surfaces inorder to strengthen my ankles which I'm sure is a factor in less injuries.  That said, boots do have their place and I still use them on occasion; but thats pretty rare today.
>
> -Miner
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Sincerely
--------------- --------------------------------------
Hiro    ( Yoshihiro Murakami )
HP:http://psycho01.edu.u-toyama.ac.jp
http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/CompleteWalker/
Backpacking for 30 years in Japan
2009 JMT, the first America.
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