Chumbley Eric M, O'Hair Nicole, Stolfi Adrienne, Lienesch Christopher, McEachen James C, Wright Bruce A
U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, USA.
Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2016 Dec 1;87(12):1010-1015. doi: 10.3357/AMHP.4625.2016.
Most fighter pilots report cervical pain during their careers. Recommendations for remediation lack evidence. We sought to determine whether regular use of a home cervical traction device could decrease reported cervical pain in F-15C pilots.
An institutional review board-approved, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant, controlled crossover study was undertaken with 21 male F-15C fighter pilots between February and June 2015. Of the 21 subjects, 12 completed 6 wk each of traction and control, while logging morning, postflying, and post-traction pain. Pain was compared with paired t-tests between the periods, from initial pain scores to postflying, and postflying to post-traction.
In the traction phase, initial pain levels increased postflight, from 1.2 (0.7) to 1.6 (1.0) Subsequent post-traction pain levels decreased to 1.3 (0.9), with a corresponding linear decrease in pain relative to pain reported postflight. The difference in pain levels after traction compared to initial levels was not significant, indicating that cervical traction was effective in alleviating flying-related pain. Control pain increased postflight from 1.4 (0.9) to 1.9 (1.3). Daily traction phase pain was lower than the control, but insignificant.
To our knowledge, this is the first study of home cervical traction to address fighter pilots' cervical pain. We found a small but meaningful improvement in daily pain rating when using cervical traction after flying. These results help inform countermeasure development for pilots flying high-performance aircraft. Further study should clarify the optimal traction dose and timing in relation to flying.Chumbley EM, O'Hair N, Stolfi A, Lienesch C, McEachen JC, Wright BA. Home cervical traction to reduce neck pain in fighter pilots. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2016; 87(12):1010-1015.
大多数战斗机飞行员在其职业生涯中都报告有颈部疼痛。关于缓解方法的建议缺乏证据。我们试图确定定期使用家用颈椎牵引装置是否能减轻F-15C飞行员报告的颈部疼痛。
2015年2月至6月，对21名男性F-15C战斗机飞行员进行了一项经机构审查委员会批准、符合《健康保险流通与责任法案》的对照交叉研究。在21名受试者中，12人分别完成了6周的牵引和对照试验，同时记录早晨、飞行后和牵引后的疼痛情况。通过配对t检验比较各阶段之间的疼痛，从初始疼痛评分到飞行后，以及飞行后到牵引后。
在牵引阶段，飞行后初始疼痛水平从1.2（0.7）增加到1.6（1.0），随后牵引后的疼痛水平降至1.3（0.9），相对于飞行后报告的疼痛相应线性下降。牵引后疼痛水平与初始水平的差异不显著，表明颈椎牵引对减轻飞行相关疼痛有效。对照疼痛在飞行后从1.4（0.9）增加到1.9（1.3）。每日牵引阶段的疼痛低于对照，但不显著。
据我们所知，这是第一项关于家用颈椎牵引治疗战斗机飞行员颈部疼痛的研究。我们发现飞行后使用颈椎牵引时，每日疼痛评分有小幅但有意义的改善。这些结果有助于为驾驶高性能飞机的飞行员制定对策提供参考。进一步的研究应阐明与飞行相关的最佳牵引剂量和时机。Chumbley EM、O'Hair N、Stolfi A、Lienesch C、McEachen JC、Wright BA。家用颈椎牵引减轻战斗机飞行员颈部疼痛。航空航天医学与人类表现。2016；87（12）：1010 - 1015。
