Injury Abstract

Wilkinson DM, Blacker SD, Richmond VL, Horner FE, Rayson MP, Spiess A and Knapik JJ (2011). Injuries and Injury Risk Factors Among British Army Infantry Soldiers During Pre-Deployment Training. Injury Prevention, 17, 381-387.

Purpose: This prospective cohort study examined injuries and injury risk factors in 660 British Army infantry soldiers during a pre-deployment training cycle.

Methods: Soldiers completed a questionnaire concerning physical characteristics, occupational factors, lifestyle characteristics (including physical training time) and previous injury.  Direct measurements included height, body mass, sit-ups, push-ups and run time.  Electronic medical records were screened for injuries over a one-year period before operational deployment.  Backward stepping Cox regression calculated hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) to quantify independent injury risk factors.

Results: One or more injuries were experienced by 58.5 % of soldiers.  The new injury diagnosis rate was 88 injuries·100 person-years^-1.  Most injuries involved the lower body (71 %), especially the lower back (14 %), knee (19 %) and ankle (15 %).  Activities associated with injury included sports (22 %), physical training (30 %) and military training/work (26 %).  Traumatic injuries accounted for 83 % of all injury diagnoses.  Independent risk factors for any injury were younger age (17–19 yr [HR=1.0], 20–24 yr [HR=0.71, CI=0.55–0.93], 25–29 yr [HR=0.89, CI=0.66–1.19] and 30–43 yr [HR=0.41, CI=0.27–0.63]), previous lower limb injury (yes/no HR=1.49, CI=1.19–1.87) and previous lower back injury (yes/no HR= 1.30, CI=1.03–1.63).

Conclusion: British infantry injury rates were lower than those reported for United States infantry (range: 101–223 injuries·100 soldier-years^-1), and younger age and prior injury were identified as independent risk factors.  Future efforts should target reducing the incidence of traumatic injuries, especially those related to physical training and/or sports.