Lisa Keating, outdoor instructor, climbing strongly with perfect balance and dynamic body movement with her FlowMo Bodypack.   The traditional way of carrying load on the head practiced in Africa, Asia and South America is extremely efficent. It creates an upright posture and the shoulders are weight free. Research shows that African women can carry 20% of their bodyweight with NO additional energy exertion. With heavier loads the energy increase was only HALF that of people carrying the same loads in backpacks. Even though the load is unstable when carried on the head, this shows the potential efficiency of a load carrying system that does not alter your posture. It shows that changing to a load carrying system which keeps you upright will reduce energy consumption far more than just reducing the weight of your backpack. FlowMo Bodypacks are the worlds first body centered load carrying systems.              The center of gravity of the load is brought down and forward to match the center of gravity of the body. The side profile of the pack is slim, and light gear placed in the pack is balanced with dense gear in front. Your posture and balance are unaltered by your load, eliminating the strain of load carrying. The 2 front pockets do not restrict your vision and they allow gear access without stopping. The load is very stable; suitable for dynamic movement. Flow motion systems in the pack harness facilitate this free movement of the body.

Our equipment is designed in Aotearoa-New Zealand using the wild and beautiful Southern Alps as our play and testing ground.

    Using the findings of Sports Science we challenge traditional thinking on pack design. No longer just backpacks, our body centered load carrying systems are better described as  ”FlowMo Bodypacks”. They disturb the posture, balance and movement of the body as little as possible under load, completely replacing backpacks as the most comfortable way to carry load on the human body.

FlowMo  

* A pack which flows with body movement.

Bodypack

* A pack where the center of gravity of load can be matched to the center of gravity of the body, so that posture and balance are unaltered by the load.

* A pack where all body contact parts can be custom fitted to create a mirror image of your torso size and shape.

 Using a systems approach to address the biomechanical principles that determine the comfort of carrying a load, we needed 8 patents to create this new load-carrying paradigm. It results in:

           MINIMUM EFFORT* load carrying               PAINLESS SHOULDERS & NECK *

           UNMATCHED BALANCE*       

           The ULTIMATE STABILITY*

           UNPRECEDENTED AGILITY

           The BEST FIT*

            GEAR ACCESS without stopping

                       * Sports Science findings

Contrast the minimum impact biomechanics of a Bodypack with the biomechanics of a backpack that substantially disturb the natural state of the body. Backpacks force a stooped forward posture, they pull back and down on your shoulders, they restrict your movement, they alter your balance and usually they imprecisely match your body shape. The resulting back pain puts many people off carrying all but a small daypack.

Sports science findings and the glowing testimonials from outdoor professionals suggest that the Bodypack breakthrough makes backpack designs obsolete.

AWARDS

Product of the year awards, COLA, UK, 1992, 1993
Millennium Design Award for Innovation, UK 2000
DuPont BrandNew Award, ISPO Germany, 2003

Innovation award , Adventure Gear Guide, Australia, 2005

Champion Canterbury, finalist, Christchurch, NZ, 2006

COMPLEMENTARY PRODUCTS

The systems approach we used to design our load carrying systems can be expanded to all equipment carried. We aim for the lightest and the most bio-mechanically and physiologically efficient gear. If an item of gear is not available we like to create it. If an item is available, we like to recommend it or sell it.

PACERPOLES are the worlds first left and right handed trekking poles. They are the first trekking poles designed from biomechanical principles, and are the most efficient and comfortable on the planet.

To work with the Pacerpoles, we have developed a range of ultralite 4 season shelters, PACERTENTS. These utilise the rigidity of Pacerpoles or standard trekking poles to create light stable structures for fast moving adventures.

Aarn Design is here to create equipment that works in harmony with the human body, deepening the intimate connections between body, spirit and nature.

                     Aarn Tate     Devi Benson