A captain with severe lower back pain sat in the jumpseat during climb; cruise and initial descent. ...

Narrative:

I've been aggravated by intense lower back pain the past few months. I've been trying various things to take care of the matter including purchasing the seat cushion from the uniform store and using it; as well as just beginning to see a physical therapist. While I was on the flight; I experienced severe lower back pain and felt that for the safety of the crew and passengers; I needed to take the necessary measures to try to alleviate some of the pain. After communicating to my first officer about the pain I was in; I took the necessary measures and the pain was somewhat alleviated to the point where I could finish the flight safely and successfully. I planned to communicate this event to my physical therapist; which I did the next day and she recommended that I not sit in the cockpit seat for extended periods of time to fly an airplane. She wrote this in a letter which was sent to my primary care physician today.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Captain with severe lower back pain sat in the jumpseat during climb; cruise and initial descent. The First Officer; who was task saturated; felt the conditions were unsafe and removed himself from the trip.

Narrative: I've been aggravated by intense lower back pain the past few months. I've been trying various things to take care of the matter including purchasing the seat cushion from the uniform store and using it; as well as just beginning to see a physical therapist. While I was on the flight; I experienced severe lower back pain and felt that for the safety of the crew and passengers; I needed to take the necessary measures to try to alleviate some of the pain. After communicating to my first officer about the pain I was in; I took the necessary measures and the pain was somewhat alleviated to the point where I could finish the flight safely and successfully. I planned to communicate this event to my physical therapist; which I did the next day and she recommended that I not sit in the cockpit seat for extended periods of time to fly an airplane. She wrote this in a letter which was sent to my primary care physician today.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	969884
Time
Date	201109
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Q400
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb Landing Descent Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Illness

A captain with severe lower back pain sat in the jumpseat during climb; cruise and initial descent. The first officer; who was task saturated; felt the conditions were unsafe and removed himself from the trip.