Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Other / Unknown; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Illness / Injury
General Physical Injury / Incapacitation
Procedure
During a routine flight; late at night; in smooth air with the seatbelt sign off; we were given a clearance of maximum forward airspeed and cleared direct to the destination airport. Shortly after we were give a discretionary descent clearance from FL350 to FL240. I was conducting IOE (Initial Operating Experience) and the new-hire FO (First Officer) was the PF (Pilot Flying). We discussed various methods to get down now that we were no longer on a STAR. We decided to enter the altitude of the FAF for the IAP we were planning to fly as our altitude to be at upon reaching the airport. This created a TOD and 3.0 descent path for us. However; the TOD was slightly behind the aircraft and we were slightly above the descent path. I instructed the FO to use FLCH as a way to intercept the descent path. As the aircraft smoothly pitched over the airspeed began increasing towards the barber pole. I instructed the FO to deploy the speed brakes; which he did; but it was inadequate to arrest the speed. I decided to intervene by disconnecting the autopilot and smoothly pitching up slightly to lessen our descent rate. No sooner had I done this than we had intercepted the descent path and we re-engaged the autopilot and continued our descent. About 1 minute later I got a call from the forward FA stating that the aft FA had been injured during the 'drop' and that she thinks her ankle is broken. I asked if she needed anything from us and that I would call ahead for medical assistance to meet us at the gate. Upon landing I contacted our company to let them know what happened. I gave a brief description and they wanted to talk to the injured FA to get a statement from her concerning this injury. Although I don't know what the aft FA was doing exactly at the time this occurred; the cause of this injury appears to be the unexpected pitching up of the aircraft to avoid an over speed situation. Although I believe I did this maneuver smoothly and the pitching up was not excessive; it appears that this somehow caused the aft FA to injure her ankle.
ERJ-175 Captain reported that a Flight Attendant injury resulted from pitching the aircraft up slightly to lessen the rate of descent.