Space medicine textbook plan

British experts are planning to compile a medical textbook for space medicine.

The project is one of several to emerge from British participation in an annual aerospace medical conference this week in Denver, Colorado, USA.

It will be coupled with the development of a systematic review group of aerospace medicine, an idea proposed by Dr Andrew Winnard, of Northumbria University, Newcastle. Dr Winnard has worked at the European Astronaut Centre, Germany.

The British researchers are also investigating the prevention of lower back pain suffered by many astronauts after space travel.

This involves the creation of a functional re-adaptive exercise device.

Dr Winnard said: "Already the European Space Agency is hoping the group can help lead reviews to answer questions such as, what exercises will work in small spacecraft on missions that return to the moon, compared to on the International Space Station (ISS) and also asking how the medical challenges will be different on the moon compared to what we are familiar with on ISS."

Fellow expert Dr Mona Nasser, from Plymouth University, Devon, said: "By bringing the discipline of the systematic review to research around aerospace medicine, we believe we can help aerospace clinicians make the most of the research available to improve their practices and benefit their patients.

"That this can be translated to ‘Earth-bound’ medicine is also exciting."

Dan Barry, a former NASA astronaut, backed the project.

He said: "As more people go into space and as space exploration expands beyond low earth orbit, effective countermeasures to low gravity environments become even more essential for crew health and mission success.

"Existing literature on space health topics is widely scattered and of highly variable quality. A dedicated systematic aerospace medicine review group is important to provide a consistent, high quality assessment of findings that will lead to improved medical decisions."

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