Jerry can carriage is an effective predictor of stretcher carry performance

Benjamin Beck, Greg L. Carstairs*, Joanne N. Caldwell Odgers, Tim L.A. Doyle, Kane J. Middleton

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Carrying a casualty on a stretcher is a critical task conducted in a range of occupations. To ensure that personnel have the requisite physical capacity to conduct this task, two bilateral jerry can carries were used to predict individual performance in a four-person stretcher carry. Results demonstrated a bilateral 22-kg jerry can carry (R2 = 0.59) had superior predictive ability of stretcher carry performance than a bilateral 15-kg jerry can carry (R2 = 0.46). Pre- to post-carry changes in grip endurance (p > 0.05), back–leg isometric strength (p > 0.05) and leg power (p > 0.05) were not significantly different between carry tasks. There was no significant difference in heart rate (p > 0.05) and oxygen consumption (p > 0.05) between the stretcher carry and either jerry can carry. Thus, on the basis of performance correlations and physiological measures, the 22-kg jerry can carry is an appropriate predictive assessment of four-person stretcher carriage. Practitioner Summary: This study investigated the ability of a jerry can carry to predict individual performance on a four-person stretcher carry. Performance correlations were substantiated with physiological measures to demonstrate similar physical requirements between task and test. These results can be used to set physical employment standards to assess stretcher carriage.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)813-820
Number of pages8
JournalErgonomics
Volume59
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Jun 2016
Externally publishedYes

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