the Adventure Lifestyle magazine

•• • • pulse THE BACK BALANCER:: When David Gilmour announced that he planned to go on a 10-day hike with a 50-pound backpack in Utah's Escalante Canyon, his doctor told him he was crazy. A 55-year-old cardiologist who suffered from multiple disk herniations and fractures, the irrepressible Gi Imour was not your average patient (recently, at age 60, he crossed the US on a bicycle). After a heated discussion, Gilmour's doctor, Ed Kois, a physiatrist who specializes in spinal cord injuries and rehabilitation, had a sudden brainstorm: Why not turn Gilmour's backpack into a brace to support his spine? Gilmour returned from the hike ecstatic. He'd felt great carrying the pack. The only pain he'd experienced was when he took the pack off. "We knew we were onto something," says Kois. Together with Gilmour and Scott Cummings, an orthopedic brace designer, Kois quickly formed a company, Outdoor Medical Research, and decided to market the idea via Kelty Pack Inc, a mountaineering and camping equipment manufacturer. The resulting design, which hit high-end sports stores such as L.L.Bean, Eastern Mountain Sports and REI in January 2001, represents nothing less than a complete paradigm shift in backpack design . The US Navy Seals have taken three dozen samples for testing. Rick Ridgeway, a member of the first US team to climb K2, says he has tried the brace in the Los Padres Mountains National Forest and now wouldn't go anywhere without it. Kelty's president, Casey Sheahan, says an even more important application may be for grade school kids who are beginning to report spinal problems from carrying overloaded school book bags. Another target market is new mothers who want to use child carrier- backpacks but have weakened abdominal muscles from giving birth. Kois' breakthrough idea sounds simple but it is actually an application of sophisticated research carried out in the 1960s which revealed that the spine can only support a load of about 25 pounds before it begins to become unstable. Studies showed that the body can carry heavier loads by constricting the muscles in the abdomen and back, essentially forming a hydraulic cylinder that supports the additional weight. Traditional backpacks partially distribute weight by using a belt, which puts some of the load on the hips. Kois' design uses an oval-shaped foam and plastic pad, about 10 inches wide, which is fitted into the belt. In contrast to traditional belts, the pad, which Kelty has dubbed the "Back Balancer™,'' actually pulls in the abdomen, creating a hydraulic lift without requiring the expend iture of additional energy from the abdominal or back muscles. The energy savings mean that a high altitude mountain climber can go further with less oxygen, a military commando can carry a heavy load further and a hiker can trek longer without running out of steam. The pad can be retrofitted to most backpacks and is expected to sell for about $30. The University of Michigan is currently running tests to determine how much oxygen and muscular energy can actually be saved by using the pack. Kelty's Sheahan says he was initially skeptical, but quickly became a true believer. "Here were these crazy doctors we met in a sushi restaurant in Portsmouth, New Hampshire," says Sheahan. "They handed me this plastic pad with foam behind it. It looked like a giant rodeo belt buckle." Sheahan says Kois then pulled out a fully loaded 50-pound pack and told him to put it on. He was blown away. "It's inexplicable," Sheahan says. He tried it on a hike in the Rockies and vowed never to hike anywhere without it again. Kois is hoping to use the lessons learned from the Back Balancer™ to tap into a deeper trend. "The same principles that apply to rehabilitation can actually enhance performance in healthy people," he says. "That's something that many outdoors people have been too macho to notice. We've had these parallel universes that have never crossed over before." -William Dowell __ ""'"--____ -'--_C MM ~G.;.;.;;;S. U_~IN ED KOIS. DAVID GILMOUR BACKPACK KELTY SLICK ROCK 5500. (BACK BALANCER'" ATIACHED)

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