Frequency of musculoskeletal injuries and their impact on healthcare utilization and tactical readiness in an Army Airborne Division

Purpose: The aim of this analysis was to measure the frequency of musculoskeletal injuries, assess their impact on healthcare utilization and tactical readiness, and identify types of common musculoskeletal injuries in an Army Airborne Division.

Methods: Medical records for the year 2008 were reviewed for a representative sample (n = 202, age = 27.2 ± 6.0 years (mean ± SD), 93.6% male) of personnel in an Army Airborne Division. Musculoskeletal injuries were described and classified according to their frequency, anatomic location, activity when injury occurred and injury type.

Results: The rate of musculoskeletal injuries was 52.5 per 100 soldiers per year. Eighty-four musculoskeletal injuries (84/106, 79.3%) were potentially preventable by an injury prevention training program. The majority of musculoskeletal injuries (57/106, 53.8%) affected the lower extremities. In case of 39 injuries (39/106, 36.7%), subjects were engaged in physical or tactical training when injuries occurred. The common injury types were sprains (25/106, 23.6%), strains (15/106, 14.2%) and overuse injuries (14/106, 13.2%). Thirty-nine injuries (39/106, 36.8%) were classified as “pain” without further description of pathology. Forty-three injuries (43/106, 40.6%) required radiological assessment, 13 injuries (13/106, 12.3%) required physical therapy, and 81 injuries (81/106, 76.4%) required pain medication. Also, 48 injuries (48/106, 45.3%) resulted in work/duty/training limitations or profile.

Conclusions: Preventable musculoskeletal injuries cause significant morbidity, and impact healthcare utilization and tactical readiness in this Army Airborne Division. There is a need to implement a customized injury prevention program to reduce the occurrence of preventable musculoskeletal injuries in this population.