Prediction and Mitigation of Back Pain in Military Pilots and Vehicle Occupants

Low back pain while piloting military air vehicles is a significant operational and health problem. Seating, task posture and vibration are major lumbar pain contributors. The asymptomatic pilot experiences acute pain and repeated painful episodes coupled with unhealed micro-injury lead to inflammation, pain sensitization and chronic pain with possible permanent damage. Pilot readiness and operational availability is reduced.Improvements in crewstation, seating, procedures, and training may enhance pilot operational performance and health.In Phase II CFDRC developed and integrated scalable human body and spine biomechanics models with acute muscle pain response mathematical models used to predict the occupant fatigue and pain response to inertial and positional stressors.In this Phase II.5 project modeling complexity will be enhanced through spinal load sharing, realistic crewstation and seating added, vibration/repetitive impact effects with cushion response developed, chronic pain onset prediction developed, and dedicated validation studies conducted.This multi-scale human body, spinal column and pain model will be used to design seating systems and modifications to minimize the occupant pain response to inertial and vibration loads and seating (geometry and cushions) while wearing restraints and protective clothing/equipment. The validated model will be used to analyze existing operational procedures and propose improved operational guidelines.