BY :PTI

A majority of Indian military pilots flying Russian helicopters, Mi-8 and Mi-17 are suffering from various types of backache which could impact their overall performance, a study has found.

Focusing on different aspects of backache, including frequency, location, severity and relief measures, the study said back pain was recorded among 67.74 per cent and 75.0 per cent pilots flying Mi-8 and Mi-17 helicopters respectively.

A total of 55 helicopter pilots with the average age of 32.35 years and 29.0 years currently flying Mi-8 and Mi-17 respectively participated in the study.

The study, published in the latest edition of Indian Society of Aerospace journal, said majority of the pilots did not seek any medical consultation for their malady (Mi-8, 71.42 per cent, Mi-17, 66.66 per cent).

While 33.33 per cent Mi-8 pilots reportedly had pain almost every day and 23.8 per cent once a week, 27.77 per cent of Mi-17 pilots said they had occasional complaint of back pain and 22.22 per cent had pain only once in a week or even once in a quarter.

The commonest activity precipitating back pain was flying. Asked about the type of sorties that precipitate the pain, they identified the ferry or cross-country sorties as most notorious.

Majority of Mi-17 pilots (61.11 per cent) reported that the pain was likely to be precipitated after flying for more than two hours, as also reported by Mi-8 pilots (42.85 per cent) but an equal percentage of Mi-8 pilots reported onset of pain after flying for an hour.