US troops 'vulnerable to back pain'

AWP

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Ya think? Seriously, did anyone NOT see this coming?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8473910.stm

US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely to be withdrawn from the battlefield due to back or joint pain than combat injuries, a study says.

A survey in a UK medical journal of US evacuees treated at a military hospital in Germany from 2004 to 2007 shows that psychiatric disorders also increased.

The study, in the Lancet, looked at the injuries suffered by 34,000 US military personel in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It found only 14% percent of medical evacuations were due to combat wounds.
 
PTSD did not technically exist prior some time around 1986. The more we know, will have a bigger influence on how we act to prevent future problems. In '69 on many injuries the Grunt had to just shake it off. A lot of those grunts now are having a lot of problems with bone and joint problems from "just shaking it off" back then rather that treat the problems. Part of the idea is when a Soldier comes home, they should be able to integrate into society and carry on with a normal life. That just did not happen for a lot of Grunts not so long ago. I think it is very reasonable to see a increase. Dealing with a problem the sooner to the time of the event helps to minimize and may even correct the damage done.
 
PTSD did not technically exist prior some time around 1986. The more we know, will have a bigger influence on how we act to prevent future problems. In '69 on many injuries the Grunt had to just shake it off. A lot of those grunts now are having a lot of problems with bone and joint problems from "just shaking it off" back then rather that treat the problems. Part of the idea is when a Soldier comes home, they should be able to integrate into society and carry on with a normal life. That just did not happen for a lot of Grunts not so long ago. I think it is very reasonable to see a increase. Dealing with a problem the sooner to the time of the event helps to minimize and may even correct the damage done.

I totally agree and my sarcasm was at the media (once again) "finding" something that we all knew YEARS ago.
 
I'd love to see these fuckers carry a pack half the weight of the person wearing it ..............
 
I KNOW this isn't sarcasm directed at the TWS.

I would never DARE!

My reason for that post is based on this authoritive post on Amazon...


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Wow. Hard to believe.

NOT. Said the guy with 40% VA disability, half of that for my back...
 
Hollis-Sorry-PTSD has always existed-used to be called battle shock.i have it
actually ptsd would be a great thread in how people are dealing with it
 
Hollis-Sorry-PTSD has always existed-used to be called battle shock.i have it
actually ptsd would be a great thread in how people are dealing with it

We had a PTSD subforum once, but the traffic on it was limited. Maybe set up a group on the board, only members of that group would have access to it.
 
I have 4 crushed discs in my T spine and 2 in my C spine. Spinal cord contact and all kind of never damage… One of the hardest things was trying to explain to the doctors and case manager that I could not pin point when the injury actually accrued. Just recently I read an article in regards to service members having sever untreated back injuries in record numbers…

As most would say “go fucking figure” but I think it’s pretty shitty that I spent 9 months telling a TMC in Iraq that my back was hurting (still going out on missions) and being told by medical doctors and PA’s that I had arthritis… Maybe I could have minimized some of the damage, maybe I could have spent less time in the gym. If I had known there was something very seriously wrong with my back.

Personally I think there needs to be a good look into how the “over loaded soldier” is being affected long term by wearing all that extra gear. 50 to 65lbs just to get out the wire not including assault pack or ruck, I think it’s a little fucking over board…
 
The average load a Soldier has carried into combat throughout all of history is 70lbs.

That's combat, not rucking to combat etc...

It's a tough, shitty, unrewarding job, that offers bugger all more than pain and suffering.

Welcome to the suck!
 
Lazy bastard, 1/2 your body weight? Pansy.

I think we averaged about 3/4, though I cut that down the more experienced I got.
Most I carried was my weight, one for one. Ouch was the word of the day, lol.
 
I used to have to grab a tree to pull myself up with my pack, and I was trying to be sneaky. Worst load was 90kg IIRC.

I still find my fingers going numb now and then from the nerve damage in the shoulders.
 
The average load a Soldier has carried into combat throughout all of history is 70lbs.

That's combat, not rucking to combat etc...

It's a tough, shitty, unrewarding job, that offers bugger all more than pain and suffering.

Welcome to the suck!

Where are you pulling those numbers from? It’s my understanding that the actual standard in a combat load (i.e. weapon, uniform, LCE) was to be under 30lbs and with the added weight of a ruck not to exceed 72lbs. Also I was of the understanding that the US Army Infantry Standard (basic combat load and 35lb ruck and able to move 12 miles in under 3 hours time “roughly 65 lbs total”) came from Napoleon’s Army and the soldier’s capability.

Of course this is not including special units (SOF) with special equipment needs as well as long term sustainment needs in units that are Airborne or light.

Over the years there have been numerous reports done on the effectiveness of the soldier in areas of “mobility” where over all they show that over loading the soldier greatly reduces the fighting capability of the unit as a whole. However there have been very few studies in the area of long-term effect on the soldier’s health. I think it is very foolish to assume that b/c you are in the military that your body should be broken, simply b/c other have done it.

As for the welcome to the “Suck” bullshit, try that shit with someone who has not been in the Army as an Infantryman for the last 8 ½ years and is a two-time veteran of the GWOT. I did not get my CIB sitting at home watching the war on TV…

If there is a way to improve and lighten the fighting soldiers combat load I will argue for that day and night so that future soldiers don’t have the problems I now do as do so many of my friends…
 
Reading about the British Army in the 1840's-1850's, the average load a soldier carried while marching was 70 pounds. I'm sure there were some slight variations, but this was rifle, ammo, uniform, bed roll, etc. Everything they needed and carried more or less. The PDF JAB posted has the modern average, depending on one's job, around 70 pounds with riflemen around 65 and that was less ruck, just their fighting load. Obviously, the fighting load of a soldier in Queen Victoria's time would be less as the bed rolls/ haversacks would be ditched prior to the fight. I don't think it unreasonable to presume that Confederate and Union infantry in the 1860's had a similar loadout.

I would not be surprised if we found the load jumped into Normandy by the 82nd and 101st to be somewhere around 70-80 pounds.

Modern war with its gadgets and doodads means that if we take 5 pounds off Joe's armor or ruck he'll probably find a way to add 5 more pound in its place (ammo, IV, an extra battery, anything) and the same goes for reducing the bulk of an item: Joe will find something to put in its place.

I don't see a soldier's load (the weight) changing anytime soon. And I say the following, with total sympathy, but objectively looking at the realities of time and our modern era: If you go into combat arms, even in peacetime, then expect to come out of it in a different physical condition (probably worse) than when you went in. Support personnel stand a reasonable chance of coming out in worse physical shape too depending on their job and duties. It sucks, but it is an unmistakable fact of life.
 
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