Carrying things on your head

Out in southeast asia you'll see people carrying stuff on their head all the time, and not light stuff either.

I've done some carrying on my head to my home, but nothing in excess of maybe 20 kilos or so. My wife's brother hauls stuff around using a tump line as someone else has depicted, and it looks pretty useful. You can definitely carry more weight overall with a tump line.

Shoulder carrying or on the small of your back (where you'd place a barbell) is also good and can usually be used for heavier loads if they're shaped right. On the head is by far the least exerting method though in my experience, even if I can put more weight on my back, I have to bend over and it's more exhausting to carry the same weight the same distance in my opinion.

Anyway, point being this is alive and well in many parts of the world still. I would also say that if you're a younger fit person you can start with a lot more than 5lbs off the bat, at least I did and I've had no issues or pains. I found that walking up awkard and steep terrain i had more difficulty in my arms and in the muscles used to keep balance in my neck (If things tip a little to the side, back, or forth it can be a real neck workout) than with actual compression issues. I'm personally more worried about the load on the spine as far as safety goes, but I also think it's pretty hard to get enough weight do that unless you've got a neck like a bull.

In my opinion, head carrying is awesome when it meets a few criteria:

1) The item is heavy enough, or awkward enough to grip that your forearms would burn out if you carried by hand. Or if both of your hands are just full (I can't balance stuff without at least 1 hand free personally to help steady the item, but some people probably can)
2) The item isn't so heavy that you feel any real strain just standing still with it
3) The item is well-balanced, some things just don't balance well on your head if they're an awkward shape. Usually those awkward shapes are easier to carry by hand or on your shoulder.

If it meets these, it's almost always easier to carry on your head than on your shoulder or back, because you don't shift your center of gravity.

Oh and it's also a great neck workout with heavy enough weights, if you're a guy who wants a thick neck lol.