While loss of bone density is a natural phenomenon as the human body ages, astronauts on long-duration flights tend to have permanent loss of bone density, study finds
Toronto: Although loss of bone density is a natural phenomenon as the human body ages, astronauts during long flights tend to have permanent loss of bone density, a study has found.
The findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, show that some astronauts who flew shorter missions, less than six months, regained lower-body bone strength and density compared to those who flew longer. long.
This loss happens because bones that would normally bear weight on Earth, like your legs, don’t have to bear weight in microgravity — you just float, said the team from the University of Calgary in Canada.
They followed 17 astronauts before and after a 2015 space flight to find out if bones regenerated after a “long” space flight.
The researchers scanned the astronauts’ wrists and ankles before they went into space, when they returned to Earth, and then six and 12 months after the return.
“We found that weight-bearing bones are only partially restored in most astronauts one year after spaceflight. This suggests that permanent bone loss due to spaceflight is about the same as a decade of age-related bone loss on Earth,” said lead author Dr. Lee Gable, assistant professor of kinesiology at the university.
“We’ve seen astronauts who had trouble walking due to weakness and lack of balance after returning from spaceflight, to others who cheerfully rode their bikes to the Johnson Space Center campus to meet us for a study visit.” There are quite different responses among astronauts when they return to Earth,” added Dr. Stephen Boyd, director of the university’s McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health.
According to former University of Calgary chancellor and astronaut Dr. Robert Thirsk, “just as the body must adapt to spaceflight at the beginning of a mission, it must also adapt back to Earth’s gravitational field at the end.”
“Fatigue, dizziness and imbalance were immediate challenges for me upon my return. Bones and muscles take the longest to recover from spaceflight. But within a day of landing, I felt comfortable as an earthling again.”
As future space missions explore travel to more distant locations, the next iteration of the study will examine the effects of even longer journeys to support astronauts who may one day travel beyond the International Space Station.
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