The objective of this research was to evaluate the impact of current body armor design on physical performance during simulated law enforcement activities. Twenty participants completed three trials of 13 individual activities representative of routine law enforcement activities. Three body armor configurations were evaluated: baseline (i.e., no armor), concealable body armor, and external body armor. Dependent variables included task completion time, heart rate, and center of pressure (COP). Repeated measures ANOVAs were used to test the dependant variables, with Tukey’s HSD post hoc tests used where appropriate. Results showed that the vertical and horizontal components of COP were affected by armor condition, time was not affected by armor condition, and heart rate was found to have significance in the EBA condition. The findings show that there is evidence to suggest that armor can affect the physical performance of wearers as they go about completing physical activities.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MSSTATE/oai:scholarsjunction.msstate.edu:td-1767 |
| Date | 10 December 2010 |
| Creators | Close, David Rashad |
| Publisher | Scholars Junction |
| Source Sets | Mississippi State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
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