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    {
      "speaker": "Leah Bucholz",
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      "body": "Hey, guys. It's Leah B here from Prestige Veteran Medical Consulting. I'm a US army veteran physician assistant and former compensation and pension examiner. So if you served in the military, you probably remember the weight of body armor on your spine. Right?"
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Leah Bucholz",
      "startTime": "17.485",
      "endTime": "60.68",
      "body": "What many veterans don't realize is what years of wearing that gear can actually do and change, when it comes to the biomechanics of your spine. So military research has shown that prolonged load carriage, including body armor, is associated with higher rates of neck pain, back pain, and spinal degeneration in service members. So today, wanna explain what actually happens to the spine when you spend years wearing body armor. We have done videos on back pain in the past, but this one's specific to that body armor piece. So if you served in combat arms, security forces, infantry units, or you deployed to different environments, you likely spent thousands of hours over your career wearing body body armor."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Leah Bucholz",
      "startTime": "60.760002",
      "endTime": "82.815",
      "body": "Hundreds or thousands of hours. Right? So plate carriers, interceptor vests, IOTVs, depending on the configuration of these systems can weigh on average 20 to 35 pounds or more once you add your plates, your ammunition, hydration systems, radios, other mission, essential equipment. Right? We're we're not even talking about different weapons that you you might have had to carry."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Leah Bucholz",
      "startTime": "83.3",
      "endTime": "112.200005",
      "body": "And when that weight is worn day after day for years, it places significant mechanical stress on the spine. So the issue with body armor isn't just the weight. It's how the weight is distributed on the body. So unlike a framed rucksack that can transfer loads through the hips, Body Armor places most of its weight directly on the shoulders and the upper torso. This shifts the body's center of gravity forward, forcing the spine, you know, to compensate."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Leah Bucholz",
      "startTime": "112.44",
      "endTime": "137.8",
      "body": "So service members often develop things like forward head posture, increased cervical spine strain. Let's not even talk about wearing MBGs, right, if you've got your, helmet on. Thoracic spine stress, increased lumbar compression. So over time, these compensations can contribute to degenerative changes in the spine. So that the neck."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Leah Bucholz",
      "startTime": "137.8",
      "endTime": "160.225",
      "body": "Right? So one of the most common areas affected is gonna be your neck. So when a heavy vest and front plate pull the torso forward, the head shifts forward to maintain balance. This is known as, like, a forward type head posture. Biomechanical studies have shown that for every inch the head moves forward, the effective load on the cervical spine increases significantly."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Leah Bucholz",
      "startTime": "160.94499",
      "endTime": "216.965",
      "body": "For service members who also wore things like helmets, MVGs, like I mentioned earlier, communications gear, the load on the neck becomes even greater. Over time, this can contribute to conditions like chronic cervical strains, degenerative disc disease, radiculopathy in the upper extremities, persistent neck pain, and obviously associated things like mood disorders due to pain, etcetera. So Body Armor can also increase axial compression through the thoracic and lumbar spine. So when that weight is worn during activities like ruck marching, running, climbing, entering and exiting vehicles, like jumping out of airplanes as well, right, rappelling, long patrols, the spine experiences repetitive loading forces. This isn't just anecdotal."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Leah Bucholz",
      "startTime": "216.965",
      "endTime": "282.39",
      "body": "Military research has examined this closely. For example, research, published in military medicine examining soldier load carriage found that heavy equipment loads significantly increased spinal loading and are associated with higher rates of musculoskeletal injuries in service members. Another study published in the journal, Spine by Roy and colleagues found that the amount of load soldiers carried during deployment actually predicted episodes of low back pain during deployment. Biomechanical research published in ergonomics by Atwells and colleagues also demonstrated that carrying heavy loads cause measurable changes in posture and gait, including forward trunk lean and increased spinal loading. Over time, these forces can accelerate degeneration, and and cause changes like degenerative disc disease, facet joint arthritis, bulging discs and herniations, chronic thoracolumbar strains, and there's also gonna be, like, a cumulative load effect."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Leah Bucholz",
      "startTime": "282.47",
      "endTime": "300.39502",
      "body": "Right? So one one day of wearing body armor usually doesn't cause chronic spinal disease. K? The issue is cumulative load exposure over time. Years of training cycles, field exercises, deployments, daily operations can result in repetitive mechanical stress on the spine."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Leah Bucholz",
      "startTime": "301.03998",
      "endTime": "323.21503",
      "body": "This is why many veterans develop things like chronic neck pain, chronic low back pain, degenerative disc disease, radiculopathy, even if there wasn't a single traumatic injury. K? So we have a ton of just this overuse from different different things. Right? Instead, the condition develops gradually from repetitive biomechanical stress."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Leah Bucholz",
      "startTime": "323.45502",
      "endTime": "349.855",
      "body": "Why does this matter for veterans? Well, from a medical standpoint, understanding the biomechanical stressors is important when evaluating veterans. K? Military duties that require prolonged use of body armor represent a significant occupational load on the spine. When evaluating these cases, clinicians often I don't know if they often do, but they should consider things like length of military service, MOS."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Leah Bucholz",
      "startTime": "349.935",
      "endTime": "364.6",
      "body": "Right? Military occupational specialty. We've gone over this ad nauseam in my MOS, SmartBook videos. If you haven't checked those out, you should. Deployment history, required load carriage, onset and progression of symptoms."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Leah Bucholz",
      "startTime": "365.0",
      "endTime": "390.4",
      "body": "These factors can help explain sort of how chronic spinal conditions can develop over time in service members. So, you know, again, we didn't even get into not not just MOSs, but special duties. Right? So being were you in the hundred and first like I was and and had a ton of, high risk activities that you had to do or in the eighty second like I was. Right?"
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Leah Bucholz",
      "startTime": "390.72",
      "endTime": "407.235",
      "body": "Or were you in some kind of special operations? Were you a ranger? Were you all of these things? Because you're gonna have higher risk activities with with more force and, you know, different things. So if you spent years wearing body armor and you now deal with chronic neck pain or back pain, you're not alone."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Leah Bucholz",
      "startTime": "408.1",
      "endTime": "455.39502",
      "body": "The effects of prolonged military load carriage have been well documented in medical literature, and many veterans experience long term musculoskeletal consequences from years of service. So as always, I appreciate when you guys come in and hang out with me on, my medical team Monday videos. So if you want more educational content about how medical evidence works in VA disability claims, consider liking and subscribing. We have a lot of great guests that come on, attorneys, other medical practitioners, and things like that that that like to, drop a lot of, truth bombs and comments and and give you guys some education that you can use for yourself, talk to your doctor about, things like that. I always like to throw out that disclaimer that I'm not a legal professional."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Leah Bucholz",
      "startTime": "455.39502",
      "endTime": "477.09",
      "body": "I am a medical professional. So if you need help with your claim, please check out, VA's website and find a VSO, credit claims agent, or an attorney near you or just anywhere in The US that that can help you out with, putting your claim together. So as always, this content is for educational purposes and is not legal or medical advice. So please drop some comments, and I will see you guys next time. Alright."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Leah Bucholz",
      "startTime": "477.615",
      "endTime": "478.095",
      "body": "See you."
    }
  ]
}