Soldiers’ load carriage performance in high mountains: a physiological study

Tirthankar Chatterjee; Debojyoti Bhattacharyya; Anilendu Pramanik; Madhusudan Pal; Deepti Majumdar; Dhurjati Majumdar

doi:10.1186/s40779-017-0113-x

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Soldiers’ load carriage performance in high mountains: a physiological study

RESEARCH | Updated：2026-03-12

- Soldiers’ load carriage performance in high mountains: a physiological study
- Military Medical Research Vol. 4, Issue 3, Pages: 132-140(2017)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences, Defence Research & Development Organisation, Ministry of Defence, Government of India, Lucknow Road, Delhi 110054, India
  2.Retired from- Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences, Defence Research and Development Organization, Ministry of Defence, Government of India, Delhi, India
- Author bio：
  
  *: tchatterjee@dipas.drdo.in
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1186/s40779-017-0113-x
  CLC：
- Published：2017-09
- Accepted：
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Chatterjee et al.: Soldiers’ load carriage performance in high mountains: a physiological study. Mil Med Res, 2017, 4: 6
DOI：

Chatterjee et al.: Soldiers’ load carriage performance in high mountains: a physiological study. Mil Med Res, 2017, 4: 6 DOI： 10.1186/s40779-017-0113-x.

摘要

Abstract

Background:

The present study was designed to evaluate load carriage performance at extremely high altitudes with different loads and walking speeds in terms of physiological evaluation. The degree of maximum oxygen consumption changes at high altitudes was also examined.

Methods:

Twelve Indian Army soldiers were acclimatized at altitudes of 3

505m and 4

300m. They walked for 10 minutes on a motorized treadmill at 2.5km/h and 3.5km/h speeds during carrying no loads and three magnitudes of load (10.7kg

21.4kg

30kg) at both altitudes. Physiological parameters such as oxygen consumption

energy expenditure

heart rate

and ventilation were recorded for each breath using a gas analyzer. The rating of perceived exertion was also noted after each load carriage session. Maximal oxygen consumption (VO

2max

) was measured at sea level and the two high altitudes

and respective relative workloads (% of VO

2max

) were calculated from oxygen consumption. Repeated measure ANOVA was applied to reveal the significant effects of the independent variables.

Results:

The participants had significant reductions in VO

2max

with rising altitude. Marked increases in almost all physiological parameters were observed with increasing load

altitude

and speed. The soldiers expressed heavy perceived exertion levels with higher loads at 3.5km/h at the two high altitudes.

Conclusions:

Considering the physiological responses

expressions of perceived exertion and changes in relative work load at both of the high altitudes. Indian soldiers are advised to walk slowly with adequate rest in between their schedules and to carry not more than 32% of their body weight.

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references

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