Seventeen patients suffered damage to the upper trunk of the brachial plexus as a result of wearing a heavy backpack, or rucksack. Impairment was predominantly motor and sensory on the left side with minimal pain. The patients were normal, healthy young men, except two who had underlying bony deformities. Disability was often severe and recovery prolonged. Improved rucksack design, limits on the amount of weight carried in the rucksack, and medical and paramedical personnel familiar with the disorder could reduce the frequency and severity of this injury.
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Jasper R. Daube (1969) studied this question.