Forecasting Proximal Femur and Wrist Fracture Caused By a Fall to the Side During Space Exploration Missions to the Moon And Mars
- Paper number
IAC-08.A1.3.9
- Author
Dr. Jerry Myers, NASA Glenn Research Center, United States
- Coauthor
Ms. Beth Lewandowski, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Glenn Research Center, United States
- Coauthor
Ms. Christina Sulkowski, United States
- Coauthor
Ms. Kelley Ruehl, United States
- Coauthor
Dr. Angelo Licata, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, United States
- Year
2008
- Abstract
The possibility of a traumatic bone fracture in space is a concern due to the observed decrease in astronaut bone mineral density (BMD) during spaceflight and because of the physical demands of the mission. The proximal femur is a skeletal location especially at risk for fracture due to the BMD reduction induced by gravitational unloading during spaceflight. Stresses on the wrist can be high during some operational activities and the wrist is often endangered during reflexive response to break a fall. These conditions lead to threats of mission related fracture at the wrist skeletal region. The Bone Fracture Risk Module (BFxRM) is a simulation component of the NASA-Integrated Medical Model (IMM) task, under the NASA Exploration Medicine Capabilities Element that quantifies the probability of bone fracture at specified skeletal locations for the duration of surface activity during Moon and Mars missions. The BFxRM is a scenario-based statistical simulation, providing predictions for specific activities or events during a particular space mission. The key elements of the BFxRM are the mission parameters, biomechanical loading models, bone loss and fracture models and incidence rate of the critical activities or events. There are uncertainties in the model parameters due to variations within the population and due to unknown effects of the space environment. To formally model and track these uncertainties, parameter distributions were used in Monte Carlo simulations to obtain an estimate of fracture probability. This paper reports model predictions of the probability of fracture of the proximal femur as a result of a fall to the side and the probability of wrist fracture when the wrist is used to break the fall. The probability predictions and sensitivity analyses of the BFxRM can be used as an engineering tool for mission operation and resource planning in order to mitigate the risk of bone fracture in space.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-08.A1.3.9.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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