A mechanism to reduce shoulder strain of backpack wearers

Abstract Backpacks are a convenient means of carrying the load. Its continuous usage has led to severe shoulder injuries and back pain due to the dynamic forces exerted by the weight of the backpack on the shoulders of the wearer during running or walking. A traditional backpack moves up and down repeatedly with the shoulder of the wearer during walking or running. Such repetitive movements of the backpack cause discomfort and strain on the wearer's shoulders. Hence, a mechanism is proposed here that can be assembled with the normal backpack in a way that the backpack stays at a constant position with respect to the ground by moving it relative to the wearer. The proposed mechanism was designed, fabricated, and assembled with a normal backpack and checked for the impact force experienced by the wearer with different loads of 10 kg, 12.5 kg, and 15 kg. An Arduino-based setup with a load cell sensor was implemented into the mechanism to measure the impact forces exerted on the wearer’s shoulder. The impact forces experienced by the wearer were found to be considerably lower when using the enhanced backpack with the mechanism compared to a normal backpack without the mechanism for a load equal to or more than 15 kg.