Aircrew lumbar supports: An update

The numbers and types of aircraft flown by aircrew being issued with lumbar supports at the Aviation Medicine Training Centre (AMTC), Royal Air Force Henlow, has been examined for the year 1997. A total of 67 lumbar supports were issued, 46% to the Army, 37% to the RAF and 15% to the Royal Navy. Rot ary wing aircraft constituted the majority of issues (73%) compared with fi xed wing aircraft (27%); the Gazelle formed the highest component (34%), fo llowed by the Lynx (20%) and the Sea King(14%). The Tornado and the Nimrod were in equal fourth place, each receiving 6% of the supports. The figures show the current distribution of aircraft types whose crews are being issue d with lumbar supports and confirm the continued high incidence of backache among rotary wing aircrew.