Impact of carrying handbag on EMG of back muscles during walking

The aim of the current study was to compare muscle activity during walking with and without handbags. Despite innovations and developments in modern transportation, handbag remains a vital mode of object transportation in occupations. Twenty-six healthy subjects (۶۳.۳±۵.۵ kg, ۱۷۴±۶.۳ cm, ۲۸.۵±۶.۵ years) participated in the current study. Ten Vicon motion captures (Vicon MX, Oxford, UK, ۱۰۰ Hz) were used to measure the kinematics variables. Significant differences of muscles activity during normal and handbag walking were observed between lower and upper erector spinae muscles activity (P<۰.۰۵). The key findings were that muscle activity of the lower erector spinae muscles was significantly higher than the upper erector spinae muscles during handbag walking. For both lower and upper erector spinae muscles, handbag walking had significantly higher muscle activity compared to normal walking. Future attempts should focus on studying the impacts of the bag carrying on trunk anterior muscle activity.