Effects of Transporting a Baby with Varied Baby Carriers on the Posture of Mother during Gait

Abstract

OBJECTIVES The purpose of the study was to investigate weight distribution, posture alignment, and gait parameters while a mother was transporting a baby with varied baby carriers during gait. METHODS Five mothers transported their babies with three different baby carriers(baby carrier, hipseat carrier, & hipseat) and carried babies with their arms. Ten cameras, marker sets, and forceplatforms were used to get the kinematic, force, and gait parameters. RESULTS The hipseat showed that the range of motion in the hip joint was small, the step length and stride length was short, and the gait velocity was slow. Mothers carried their babies with arms showed that lower in the trunk flexion angle, larger in the stride length, and faster in the gait velocity were than any other baby carriers. CONCLUSIONS The baby carrier is important for infant's growth and care, but there is lack of product appropriateness, use, and scientific basis. Therefore, further study is needed to investigate varied performance with transporting a baby with baby carriers.

Investigation of wearing methods of a baby carrier on muscle activation during trunk flexion-extension in healthy women

“…As such, many studies have been conducted because wearing a baby carrier can place a considerable burden on the musculoskeletal system of the caregiver. According to a recent study related to this, baby carriers with shoulder straps and waist belts have the lowest burden on the body muscles, and the method of wearing the baby carriers tightly can reduce the change in shape of the spinal column [6,11]. Baby carriers allow the mothers to move their hands freely even when they are holding an infant or carrying a baby and therefore, a large number of women carry out household chores at the same time as raising their children, including performing the dual tasks of holding the baby while cleaning, shopping, washing dishes, etc [12].…”