Load Carriage by Infantry Soldier Criteria for Assessment of Physiological and Psychological Fatigue

Abstract

Load Carriage by Infantry Soldiers is an important problem concerning the Army. This study attempts to evolve suitable criteria for assessing the physiological and psychological fatigue at the end of a given task in field studies pertaining to load carriage. Fifteen tests, physiological and performance which included assessment of Blood Pressure, Respiration Rate, Pulse Rate, Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate, Eosinophil Count, Harvard Step Test, Energy expenditure during work, Motor Reaction, Cancellation Test, Target Hitting, and Weight Discrimination were tried. Among the various tests studied, there was a consistently progressive fall in eosinophil count with increasing levels of fatigue. The 'pulse recovery index' which was a measure of the rate of pulse recovery after exercise, was lower with higher levels of fatigue. All the other tests in their present form were found unsuitable as tests of fatigue.