Seeburrun Tanvi, Bustamante Michael C, Hartlen Devon C, Azar Austin, Ouellet Simon, Cronin Duane S
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
Valcartier Research Centre, Defence Research and Development Canada, Quebec, QC, Canada.
Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2024 Feb 14;12:1352387. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2024.1352387. eCollection 2024.
Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) may be caused by occupational hazards military personnel encounter, such as falls, shocks, exposure to blast overpressure events, and recoil from weapon firing. While it is important to protect against injurious head impacts, the repeated exposure of Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) service members to sub-concussive events during the course of their service may lead to a significant reduction in quality of life. Symptoms may include headaches, difficulty concentrating, and noise sensitivity, impacting how personnel complete their duties and causing chronic health issues. This study investigates how the exposure to the recoil force of long-range rifles results in head motion and brain deformation. Direct measurements of head kinematics of a controlled population of military personnel during firing events were obtained using instrumented mouthguards. The experimentally measured head kinematics were then used as inputs to a finite element (FE) head model to quantify the brain strains observed during each firing event. The efficacy of a concept recoil mitigation system (RMS), designed to mitigate loads applied to the operators was quantified, and the RMS resulted in lower loading to the operators. The outcomes of this study provide valuable insights into the magnitudes of head kinematics observed when firing long-range rifles, and a methodology to quantify effects, which in turn will help craft exposure guidelines, guide training to mitigate the risk of injury, and improve the quality of lives of current and future CAF service members and veterans.
轻度创伤性脑损伤（mTBI）可能由军事人员遇到的职业危害引起，如跌倒、冲击、暴露于爆炸超压事件以及武器射击的后坐力。虽然防止头部受到伤害性撞击很重要，但加拿大武装部队（CAF）成员在服役期间反复暴露于亚脑震荡事件可能会导致生活质量大幅下降。症状可能包括头痛、注意力难以集中和对噪音敏感，影响人员履行职责的方式并导致慢性健康问题。本研究调查了暴露于远程步枪的后坐力如何导致头部运动和大脑变形。在射击事件期间，使用仪器化护齿对一组受控军事人员的头部运动学进行了直接测量。然后将实验测量的头部运动学用作有限元（FE）头部模型的输入，以量化每次射击事件期间观察到的脑应变。对旨在减轻施加给操作员的负荷的概念性后坐力减轻系统（RMS）的功效进行了量化，RMS使施加给操作员的负荷降低。本研究的结果为发射远程步枪时观察到的头部运动学幅度提供了有价值的见解，以及一种量化影响的方法，这反过来将有助于制定暴露指南，指导训练以减轻受伤风险，并改善当前和未来CAF成员及退伍军人的生活质量。
