Posted on 11/27/2007 4:30:17 PM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo
Some of the 2,600 Minnesota National Guard members who spent 16 months in Iraq say their tour of duty made them shorter, at least temporarily, and doctors say that's because the 60 to 90 pounds of gear they carried likely caused their spinal discs to compress.
Brian Hesse, 25, of Minnetonka, believes he lost about an inch after toting heavy body armor and gear on convoy and security missions. His armor alone weighed over 30 pounds. He also wore a 4-pound helmet, and carried a 7.5-pound loaded M-4 rifle, and 10 pounds of extra ammunition and other necessities.
"I shrunk," Hesse said, "and got a bit wider. It's like my body said, 'OK, I need a wider base."'
Doctors say musculoskeletal injuries are common for Iraq returnees.
"A good chunk of what we're seeing is actually overuse that we would really anticipate would get better in a short period of time," said Dr. Michael Koopmeiners, who directs community clinics for the Minneapolis VA Medical Center.
Over the next month, Guard members are reporting to Camp Ripley to answer questions about physical injuries and the risk of combat stress or traumatic brain injury. The questions are part of a post-deployment reassessment, identical to a survey issued when the soldiers first finished their tour of duty.
About 1,300 Minnesota National Guard members came back from Iraq and Afghanistan before the 1st Brigade Combat Team. Of those, 716 were referred for health care services after reassessment, the Minnesota National Guard said. The majority had "nagging injuries" to joints and muscles.
Nationwide, more than 96,000 National Guard members and reservists have completed reassessments since October 2006, and 49 percent reported health problems unrelated to combat wounds, the U.S. Defense Department said.
Low back problems are most common, Koopmeiners said, followed by neck, shoulder, knee and ankle injuries.
The risk appears even greater for the 1st Brigade Combat Team, whose 16-month deployment in Iraq is the longest of any U.S. military unit.
"The longer they're deployed," Koopmeiners said, "the more likely that they have injuries, especially to the musculoskeletal system."
Hesse and his girlfriend, Ashley Ekstrom, a sergeant in the Minnesota National Guard, both see signs of wear.
Ekstrom, 24, of Minnetonka, said her initial assessment after her service in Iraq showed she was an inch shorter, too. She has received physical therapy and chiropractor treatments for shooting pains in her back and neck that make it hard to sleep.
Ekstrom said her pains grew steadily from the weight of the body armor and the long convoys on bumpy roads. She already went through her reassessment, and said she gained the inch back, and her pain has eased.
Hesse, a staff sergeant, goes to the gym in hopes that stretching and exercising will help his back and reduce his occasional pain.
"It slows me down from what I used to be (before Iraq)," he said, "but that was also two years ago, when I was a little bit younger and a little bit more mobile." He's still awaiting reassessment.
The incidents of joint and muscle pain pose issues for military leaders.
Body armor and weapons may be getting lighter, but the net weight isn't changing much. Many soldiers are now wearing extra armor plates to protect their sides, throats and groins.
A 2004 study of an Army unit in Afghanistan estimated that riflemen were carrying equipment that equaled 36 percent of their body weight during combat and 55 percent of their body weight during patrols. The recommended load is no more than 30 percent of body weight.
Some soldiers using mortars or heavy weapons carried nearly 100 percent of their body weight at times, the study found.
"Can you imagine walking around carrying yourself, all the time, day in and day out?" asked Charles Dean, a retired Army colonel who led the study. "It would definitely have an impact."
There's also the question of whether muscle and joint pains will become chronic. Even if pain goes away, it could resurface.
"That's one of those things we're going to notice again five or 10 years down the line," said Maj. Gen. Larry Shellito, adjutant general to the Minnesota Guard. "That's why I would like for us to deal with it up front."
I don’t have to wear gear to be short.
It stinks =(
Hope they recover quickly.
So do school children get shorter after hauling around book bags all year?
Not sure about that, tho, there has been some linking of school backpacks/bookbags to spinal injuries, so I’m sure that the same sort of thing does occur.
My father’s left leg is about 3/4 inch shorter than the other. He started carrying mail at 17 on a walking route. So 30 pound backpacks probably are affecting kids.
I remember hearing a long time ago about Basketball players temporarily getting shorter from the compression of the spine.
A more significant worry is that Calcium is taken from the bones to help the body perform certain functions.
So Calcium is important for kids and grownups. Protein prevents the absorption of Calcium (people in Africa who do not get much meat in their diet tend to absorb Calcium better).
As I recall, Broccoli has a lot of Calcium. And the rule I remember is that having protein 12 hours before or after taking calcium prevented absorbing as much.
Calcium pills might be a good supplement for Iraq Vets -- as the article seems to point to stress on the bone system, and giving the body more calcium might be a good thing...
When I when back in later 1967 if you couldn't eat it or shoot it or use it to keep the rain off you didn't carry it, I was in an Air Scout Unit so the loads varied, we had discretion a lot of the grunts did not.
Yeah. It happened to us in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, and nobody really cared.
By the way I was 6’2 in 1963 and I am still 6’2 in 2007.
So, why do they call you “Little Bill”??
;-)
Later when the Frogs came we lucked out, we were forced onto Kings land and thus paid a Quit Rent in cash, again the wool Trade. Because this rent was reordered we needed a name and a patrinome.
Because William was this ancestors name, Wyllyame, we became Wyllykynes, Little Will or in this case Little Bill.
I suspect better load distribution combined with strengthening the affected muscle groups would have more compensatory value than dietary supplements alone.
My unit had physicals after a Reforger exercise and nearly all were surprised that they were at least 1/4 inch shorter after schlepping crap for two months with minimal rest time. Fortunately all recovered after returning to normal duties.
But these complaints are nothing compared to the suffering so many endured during World War II. Those guys had the disadvantage of heavy weapons, even heavier ammunition and glorious bastards like Patton forcing them to nearly sprint with all of it across many miles of terrain.
And those who survived with merely an incremental loss in height would have considered that a blessing.
Get set up with a select comfort bed starting now.It wont get any better than that.If it is bad now when they hit their 40s it will be terrible.
So,so true.
“...doctors say that’s because the 60 to 90 pounds of gear they carried
likely caused their spinal discs to compress.”
I’m not a medical doctor...
but maybe this should be tried (UNDER MEDICAL SUPERVISION) to see
if it can help put things back in place?
(I’ve never tried it, it could just be hokum)
Inversion Therapy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inversion_therapy
“Some of the 2,600 Minnesota National Guard members who spent 16 months in Iraq say their tour of duty made them shorter, at least temporarily, and doctors say that’s because the 60 to 90 pounds of gear they carried likely caused their spinal discs to compress.”
Gee. I’m 5’1 and was 100 pounds WITH my full gear while I was in the Army for 20 years, LOL!
This is one of two things: A bogus story to begin with, or some Minnesota Social Worker laying the ground work for grant money to “research” this post-war “disorder.”
*Rolleyes*
I don’t think I am going to touch that one. lol
I was 6’5” when I entered the Navy in 1972. I got jerked around so many times for 12 years .... must be why I am now 6’6”.
“So do school children get shorter after hauling around book bags all year?”
I had to pick up my son up early from school today, he pulled a muscle in his back walking up stairs carrying 45lbs of books in his pack slung over one shoulder. He’s been laying flat all day.
Might 60-90 pounds of gear, combined with blistering heat (dehydration) cause an inch of compression?
I think it might, over 16 months.
You get an A for creativity for that story, but are you sure Little Bill wasn’t a pet name from your first girlfriend? ;~))
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