Thank you very much for publishing research that shows Nepali porters are the most efficient in the world ('Porters' progress', #258). Just to add to the information: the subject is not new and has been part of scientific discourse with articles like 'Trends in the Workload of the Two High Altitude Aid Posts in the Nepal Himalayas' (Journal of Travel Medicine 6:217-222, 1999, by Buddha Basnyat, GK Savard and K Zafren), 'The Burden of the Himalayan Porter' (High Altitude Medicine and Biology, Volume 2, Number 2, 2001, by Buddha Basnyat and Benedicte Schepens). The article published in Science (Volume 308, 17 June 2005) under the title 'Energetics of Load Carrying in Nepalese Porters' is an excellent observational study carried out by Belgian researchers GJ Bastien , B Schepens, PA Willems and NC Heglund. The researchers have done a comparative study with European porters who also carry loads on their backs and African women who carry head-supported loads. There has been increasing academic interest in the structural alignment of cervical vertebra (and spine) of porters. The International Porters' Protection Group is also working for the safety and rights of porters. I can see present research failing to observe a few extremely important contributing components of the load-carrying mechanism of Nepali porters. We need to understand the laws of physics to study and interpret rather than go for expensive invasive procedures.

Matiram Pun,
Institute of Medicine, Maharajganj