Hauling fatigue accrues from sustained heavy physical labor — digging trenches, hoisting stones, mucking out stables, breaking ground for a road, lifting and stacking heavy goods. Where climbing taxes the chest and arms, hauling taxes the back, legs, and core. Both deplete the same windedness pool, but the muscle groups involved recover at different rates. PF accrues per five minutes of active labor.
Symptoms
Heavy breathing, sweat-soaked clothing, ache in the lower back, hands shaking when set to fine work, the urge to lean on something solid. Speech in short phrases between exertions.
Progression
Continued hauling past the body’s capacity invites strain injuries — pulled backs, dropped loads, slipped grips — and the consequences are immediate rather than abstract. The labor crew knows when to call a break; the soldier digging entrenchments in haste may not.
Treatment
- Set the load down; find shade or shelter
- Sit and stretch the back; rotate the shoulders
- Water and a small bite of food
- Do not lift again until the lower back releases its ache
Recovery
Ten minutes of rest reduces windedness fatigue by 5.