A Spine Loading Model of Women in the Military
Abstract
The risk of low-back disorders (LBD) may be particularly great for women in the military, influencing training effectiveness, costs and military readiness. The goal of this research is to quantify musculoskeletal loads on the spine of women performing military manual materials handling (MMH) tasks. This will permit assessment of LBD risk factors for military women, and the potential to evaluate tasks and training methods for female military personnel. Our efforts are progressing in general accordance with the proposal and timeline. Magnetic Resonance images (MRI) have been employed to measure muscle cross-sectional areas, lateral and anterior-posterior moment arm distances in healthy women. To date, we have collected and analyzed a majority of the imaging data. Force-length and force-velocity relationships must be quantified to describe the physiological dyrmiics of MMH tasks. Equipment and methods for these measurements have been calibrated and tested on a male population. These techniques will be employed on a female population once a complete data set is achieved from the MRI study. Afler the first year of this research effort, we are progressing well and confident that an accurate biomechanical model can be developed for the evaluation of spinal load of women performing military MMH tasks.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1996
- Accession Number
- ADB232058
Entities
People
- William S. Marras
Organizations
- Ohio State University