{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,6]],"date-time":"2026-10-06T01:06:28Z","timestamp":1791248788326,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":10,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"3","content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["BMJ Mil Health"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2019,7,9]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,6]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Side plates are worn by UK Armed Forces as part of the VIRTUS body armour and load carriage systems to protect the thorax and abdomen from high-velocity threats. The VIRTUS project has provided the impetus to objectively demonstrate the anatomical coverage provided by side plates.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Method<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>CT scans of 120 male UK Armed Forces personnel were analysed to ascertain the vertical distance between the anterior axillary fold and iliac crest, and horizontal distance between anterior and posterior borders of the liver, delineating the boundaries of essential medical coverage from the side aspects. The percentage of shot-lines intersected by the existing Enhanced Combat Body Armour (ECBA) plates as well as an optimised plate based on the maximum potential dimensions of essential coverage was determined in the Coverage of Armour Tool.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>ECBA plates were 101\u2009mm shorter and 4\u2009mm narrower than a plate with dimensions providing essential medical coverage for the 50th percentile subject (157\u00d7315\u2009mm). Coverage increased by 35% when using two ECBA plates as side coverage in addition to using the front and rear OSPREY plates in the VIRTUS vest. Two side plates with dimensions providing essential medical coverage for the 50th percentile increased anatomical coverage by a further 16%.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>This analysis has provided strong evidence that ECBA plates are already optimised for side protection, despite not being originally designed for this purpose. They are correctly positioned within the VIRTUS soft body armour vest and the width of the ECBA plate is only 3% less than what would be optimum size for the 50th percentile. Although the height of the plate could be increased to further enhance the anatomical coverage, it is unlikely that this would be acceptable in terms of the human factors, equipment integration or additional mass.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1136\/jramc-2019-001255","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,2,24]],"date-time":"2020-02-24T04:59:29Z","timestamp":1582520369000},"page":"147-152","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Determining the optimum anatomical coverage of side plates for the VIRTUS body armour and load carriage system"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"167","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2352-1365","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Johno","family":"Breeze","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Birmingham, UK"},{"name":"Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Birmingham, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"R N","family":"Fryer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Platform Systems, Dstl, Fareham, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"E","family":"Lewis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Defence Equipment and Support, Bristol, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,2,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025081310545739000_167.3.147.1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1932","DOI":"10.1016\/j.injury.2016.06.010","article-title":"Determining the dimensions of essential medical coverage required by military body armour plates utilising computed tomography","volume":"47","author":"Breeze","year":"2016","journal-title":"Injury"},{"key":"2025081310545739000_167.3.147.2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/jramc-2015-000490"},{"key":"2025081310545739000_167.3.147.3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/jramc-2015-000431"},{"key":"2025081310545739000_167.3.147.4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Simpson BRE , Bolton CB . An Anthropometric Survey of 200 R. A. F. and R. N. Aircrew and the Application of the Data to Garment Size Rolls. 1970;(3612). Available: http:\/\/naca.central.cranfield.ac.uk\/reports\/arc\/rm\/3612.pdf","DOI":"10.1016\/0003-6870(70)90028-1"},{"key":"2025081310545739000_167.3.147.5","unstructured":"Tyrrell AK . Anthropometry Survey of UK Military Personnel 2006\u20137: Summary Report QINETIQ\/07\/02615, 2006."},{"key":"2025081310545739000_167.3.147.6","unstructured":"Edwards M , Furnell A , Coleman J , et al . UNCLASSIFIED. A Preliminary Anthropometry Standard for Australian Army Equipment Evaluation. Available: http:\/\/pandora.nla.gov.au\/pan\/24592\/20141101-0001\/DSTO-TR-3006 PR.pdf"},{"key":"2025081310545739000_167.3.147.7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/jramc-2015-000453"},{"key":"2025081310545739000_167.3.147.8","unstructured":"Paquette S , Gordon C , Bradtmiller B . Anthropometric Survey (ANSUR) II Pilot Study: Methods and Summary Statistics. Prepared for U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center Natick, Massachusetts 01760-5020 [Internet], 2009. Available: https:\/\/apps.dtic.mil\/dtic\/tr\/fulltext\/u2\/a498172.pdf"},{"key":"2025081310545739000_167.3.147.9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"629","DOI":"10.1016\/j.injury.2015.01.045","article-title":"Clinical and post mortem analysis of combat neck injury used to inform a novel coverage of armour tool","volume":"46","author":"Breeze","year":"2015","journal-title":"Injury"},{"key":"2025081310545739000_167.3.147.10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"577","DOI":"10.1016\/S0020-1383(96)00072-1","article-title":"Accurate anatomical location of war injuries: analysis of the Lebanon war fatal casualties and the proposition of new principles for the design of military personal armour system","volume":"27","author":"Gofrit","year":"1996","journal-title":"Injury"}],"container-title":["BMJ Military Health"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/syndication.highwire.org\/content\/doi\/10.1136\/jramc-2019-001255","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,13]],"date-time":"2025-08-13T17:55:03Z","timestamp":1755107703000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/militaryhealth.bmj.com\/lookup\/doi\/10.1136\/jramc-2019-001255"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,2,23]]},"references-count":10,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,21]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,6]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1136\/jramc-2019-001255"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/jramc-2019-001255","relation":{},"ISSN":["2633-3767","2633-3775"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2633-3767","type":"print"},{"value":"2633-3775","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,2,23]]}}}