Detecting Human Fatigue

Musculoskeletal (MSK) injuries account for the overwhelming majority of injuries in the military — up to 82% in the U.S. Army, by some estimates — and 59% of all limited duty days, according to 2019 statistics. These injuries are often preceded by physical fatigue, a natural consequence of performing strenuous activity, particularly under heavy and irregular loads.

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, are working on a system to monitor physical fatigue in near-real time. Such a capability could prevent countless MSK injuries, and fits into a larger portfolio of work at the Laboratory focused on predictive health and human performance modeling.