Project Overview

Equestrian riding has a positive impact on women’s health due to its ease of continuation into adulthood. Although there appears to be a physical health benefit to riding, literature suggests some biomechanical determent to the body with emphasis on the lumbar spine. The scope of this project includes thousands of female participants in the activity. It is a necessity to explore and develop equipment for testing the effect of the loading conditions caused by riding on a female equestrian rider’s spine.

It is well documented that equestrian riders experience chronic pain due to the repeated impacts between horse and body while riding. Literature repeatedly shows pain concentrated in the lumbar spine after multiple years exposure to horseback riding. As biological engineers, it is necessary to better understand the causes of this chronic pain by finding a way of quantitatively measuring the pubic health impacts this overlook could have on female equestrian riders.

The overall expected outcome of this project is to produce a wearable sensor system that quantitatively measures the loading conditions experienced on the lumbar spine of a female equestrian rider. The results will warrant further research on how to reduce the loading conditions on the spine, and how to therefore reduce or eliminate pain for the rider.