It's not unusual for a typical fully equipped and loaded duty belt to weigh between 8 and 14 pounds, with the average load in North America weighing 12.8.

If the duty belt fails to carry the necessary weight comfortably and fails to compensate to fit the officer's frame, then the officers' body, specifically the muscular-skeletal, nervous and circulatory system, must adjust – because the belt cannot.

The portion of the nervous system that innervates the lower extremities.

The lumbar plexus and the sacral plexus, located at the lower end of the spinal cord form a kind of fibrous conduit that funnels nerves and nerve signals to and from the spinal cord. Lumbar nerves supply sensory information toward the brain and motor signals to the lower parts of the abdomen and back, the buttocks and parts of the legs. And sacral nerves supply sensory information toward the brain and motor signals to thighs and lower parts of the legs and the feet. The longest nerve in the body is the sciatic nerve. It emerges out of the sacral plexus and down into each leg.

Today's duty belt crosses over the lumbosacral plexus and an officer will feel pain whenever the belt impinges on it. The effect is continuous or near continuous pain and numbness transmitted through the sciatic, sacral and lumbar nerves in the lower back, in the thighs and lower legs and feet.

The arterial portion of the circulatory system that carries oxygenated blood to the lower extremities.

The thoracic aorta carries blood south. At waist level the aorta bifurcates to feed the legs and lower extremities. The blood to the legs is fed through the common iliac arteries and the iliac extension through the femoral arteries. Blood flow can be restricted at the front of the waist by the duty belt. Good blood flow is a function of healthy blood pressure. When blood circulation is constricted at the waist by a combination of belt weight, belt rigidity and belt tightness, blood flow readjusts to compensate for the restriction. When blood pressure is constricted, even temporarily, particularly when it's being transported back to the heart through the veins, one or all of the following can happen:

First: The officer can feel slightly dizzy or lightheaded, especially when he stands after prolonged periods of sitting.

Second: The officer can experience temporary shortness of breath.

Third: The officer may experience reduced blood flow to the skin, feet and hands. These areas may become cold, temporarily less flexible, less useable and slightly discolored. Cold blood is also slightly more viscous and compounds the transport-through-a-constricted-space problem.

The muscular-skeletal system carries the weight.

The muscular skeletal system is impacted in at least four ways by an improperly designed duty belt platform.

First: Duty belt weight, when it's improperly allocated around the waist causes an officer to compensate in unnatural and unintended ways. With too much weight in the front, the body compensates by pulling backward against the weight. This causes a routine pelvic rotation and the hyperextension of the spine causing cumulative pain and discomfort.

Second: With too much weight on one side, the body compensates by routinely leaning against the weight in the offside direction resulting in a twist to the spine and discomfort in the neck and shoulders.

Third: When the duty belt is cinched too tightly it compresses the abdominal muscles and inhibits their full functionality. An officer is inclined to overuse the back muscles to compensate for the cumulative weakness in the abdominal muscles. The compensatory pull applied by the back muscles is exacerbated among overweight officers. Again, the routine pelvic rotation and the hyperextension of the spine that results causes cumulative back pain and discomfort.

Fourth: The duty belt and/or some of the accessories impinge on the bones of the pelvic girdle, particularly among women. The pelvic girdle consists of two large coxal bones. The ilium is the portion of the coxal that is the flared upper portion of the hip. Being larger and flared further in women, and being that the gun and holster press and rub on the ilium, bone pain, skin abrasion and bruising regularly occur.

When the duty belt and the accessories on it are cinched too tight, the officer will feel some nerve and circulatory discomfort and often muscular-skeletal pain caused by hyperextension of spine and associated muscles. In fact, currently, 38% of officers in North America have received paid time-off for back pain related issues sometime in their career. Read about how Duckbill can improve health from belt induced ailments here.