Grant: Alliance Grants

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) play an essential role to Canadians, contributing to the security and co-operation of Canada both domestically and internationally. Dismounted soldiers carry heavy loads and equipment on their body while completing work-related tasks with heavy physical demands. Given these occupational demands, it is not surprising that soldiers experience a high proportion of musculoskeletal injuries at work. A trade-off exists between carrying heavy loads that are necessary for operational effectiveness and the associated deficits in mobility, which can reduce performance and potentially lead to an increased exposure to enemy fire. In addition, there are other factors that can contribute to reductions in mobility in soldiers. The aim of this work is to determine how to manage and understand the relationships between heavy carried loads, musculoskeletal injury risk and mobility in soldiers during highly physically demanding tasks. We aim to explore these issues through a variety of approaches, including observing soldiers during training exercises that are similar to exposures experienced while deployed. Based on these experiences, we will develop systematic testing procedures to isolate the movements that make up the work-related tasks and test the effect of load in a laboratory environment. Finally, we will use statistical procedures and machine learning approaches in order to predict the mobility of soldiers in novel loading scenarios that were not previously tested. The goal of this work is to contribute to an understanding of how carrying heavy loads can increase injury risk and reduce performance in soldiers. Strong government-industry partnerships with Defence Research Development Canada (DRDC) and Canadian firm Mawashi Science and Technology will ensure project success as well as the dual-use of the research findings.