title: Acute spinal injury after centrifuge training in asymptomatic fighter pilots.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Many countries have hypergravity training centers using centrifuges for pilots to cope with a high gravity (G) environment. The high G training carries potential risk for the development of spinal injury. However, no studies evaluated the influence of centrifuge training on the spines of asymptomatic fighter pilots on a large scale.
  
  
  METHODS
  Study subjects were 991 male fighter pilots with high G training at one institution. Subject variables included information about physical characteristics, flight hours of pilots prior to the training, and G force exposure related factors during training. The two dependent variables were whether the pilots developed acute spinal injury after training and the severity of the injury (major/minor).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The incidence of acute spinal injury after high G training was 2.3% (23 of 991 subjects). There were 19 subjects who developed minor injury and 4 subjects who developed a herniated intervertebral disc, which is considered a major injury. In multivariate analysis, only the magnitude of G force during training was significantly related to the development of acute spinal injury. However, there was no significant factor related to the severity of the injury.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that high G training could cause negative effects on fighter pilots' spines. The magnitude of G force during training seemed to be the most significant factor affecting the occurrence of acute spinal injury.
authors.forename: Kyung-Wook
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Young Ho
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Seungcheol
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kang
mesh_terms: D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000328:Adult; D000337:Aerospace Medicine; D002498:Centrifugation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008889:Military Personnel; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D013124:Spinal Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*