Comparative effects of different infant loading methods on rural South African caregivers’ pulmonary function

Abstract

Traditional back infant loading (BIL) is a longstanding method of childcare among rural African communities linked to postural deviation and neuro-musculoskeletal pain. Anecdotal reports indicate that many female caregivers adopt front infant loading (FIL) to avoid the aforementioned maladies. This research compared differences in pulmonary function between BIL, FIL, and unloaded state among 100 female caregivers, aged 18-40 years, residing in rural Glendale within the ILembe District of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, who voluntarily participated in the study. Participants forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV_1sec) were measured. Results indicated that BIL allowed caregivers to exhale the least FVC compared to FIL and the unloaded state (2.4±0.5L vs 2.5±0.5L vs 2.6±0.5L) (p<0.0001). Similarly, caregivers’ FEV_1sec was the lowest for BIL compared to FIL and the unloaded state (1.8±0.4L vs 1.9±0.4L vs 2.2±0.5L) (p<0.0001). Caregivers’ FEV_1sec/FVC was the least during BIL as compared to FIL and unloaded state (78.7±15.8% vs 78.8±15.0% vs 81.5±13.8%) (p<0.0001). Overall, the findings suggest that BIL produced a greater pulmonary functional stress among female caregivers than the FIL and the unloaded state.