Correlating Helmet System Mass Properties with Pain Levels towards Helicopter Aircrew Neck-trouble Mitigating Solutions

摘要

Royal Canadian Air Force aircrew members have reported neck-trouble prevalence rates of 75%. Toaddress this problem, a four-year project was recently completed that proposed, developed, assessed, andprovided scientific advice on neck pain solutions. One of the solutions involved a Helmet SystemAssessment trial where helmet system mass properties and pain levels were collected from thirty-ninehelicopter aircrew. These data were used to determine a relationship between head supported massproperties and pain level. The results show that experienced aircrew with chronic neck trouble have learnedto manage their pain by reducing the amount of counter weights during night sorties, while novice aircrewwear counterweights that they are issued, which is often more than needed. Thus, a possible mitigatingsolution is to wear minimal counter weights so to delay the onset of episodic or chronic neck pain.