Scientists have warned that staying in space for prolonged periods can be harmful to the spines of astronauts. This happens due to the negative effects of staying in the microgravity of space. Since there’s no continuous downward pressure on the body from gravity, the living tissues of bones tend to lose density with time, as proven in previous research.
“Spinal health is integral to postural control and facilitating the core trunk movements required for all activities on mission,” Ashley Weaver of the Wake Forest University said in a NASA statement. “So, it’s crucial that we understand how these muscle changes are influenced by long-duration exposure to microgravity.”
Spines lengthen in space
Weaver and her team used magnetic resonance imaging to observe the effects of spending more time in space on muscle and bone mass. Previous research in 2016 found that the muscles that support the spine were weakening, eventually causing back pain. Due to no downward pressure, spines lengthen, leading to unusual results in some cases.
In 2018, Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai tweeted that his height increased by a staggering 9 cm in around 20 days. He also joked about not fitting in the Soyuz seat on his way back home.
The team that carried the current research collected scans from nine astronauts who were aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for more than 6 months.
There’s still hope
“Now that all scanning is complete, we’re looking forward to learning what bone and muscle changes occur during space missions and how these relate to injury risk,” Weaver said.
Thankfully, scientists are coming with some exercises that will be able to slow down the loss of bone and muscle tissues. During the tests, these exercises have shown promise; however only exercise won’t completely stop the slow down by itself. This will be important research as the future holds a lot of missions that will involve spending a lot of time in space.
Since there are many space missions ahead, a new Biocidal Advanced Coating Technology project for Reducing Microbial Activity (Bacterma) will help astronauts clean their undergarments in space without using water.
