Exertional heat stroke (EHS) is one of the most common causes of sudden death in athletes. It also represents a unique medical challenge to the prehospital healthcare provider due to the time sensitive nature of treatment. In cases of EHS, when cooling is delayed, there is a significant increase in organ damage, morbidity, and mortality after 30 minutes, faster than the average EMS transport and ED evaluation window. The purpose of this document is to present a paradigm for prehospital healthcare systems to minimize the risk of morbidity and mortality for EHS patients. With proper planning, EHS can be managed successfully by the prehospital healthcare provider.

Musculoskeletal injuries, predominantly of the lower extremities, have significant fiscal and operational effects on Air Force Basic Military Training. Further research into prevention and early rehabilitation of these injuries in military trainees is warranted.

Context:Lower extremity stress fractures among athletes and military recruits cause significant morbidity, fiscal costs, and time lost from sport or training. During fiscal years (FY) 2012 to 2014, 1218 US Air Force trainees at Joint Base San Antonio–Lackland, Texas, were diagnosed with stress fracture(s). Diagnosis relied heavily on bone scans, often very early in clinical course and often in preference to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), highlighting the need for an evidence-based algorithm for stress injury diagnosis and initial management.Evidence Acquisition:To guide creation of an evidence-based algorithm, a literature review was conducted followed by analysis of local data. Relevant articles published between 1995 and 2015 were identified and reviewed on PubMed using search terms stress fracture, stress injury, stress fracture imaging, and stress fracture treatment. Subsequently, charts were reviewed for all Air Force trainees diagnosed with 1 or more stress injury in their outpatient medical record in FY 2014.Study Design:Clinical review.Level of Evidence:Level 4.Results:In FY 2014, 414 trainees received a bone scan and an eventual diagnosis of stress fracture. Of these scans, 66.4% demonstrated a stress fracture in the symptomatic location only, 21.0% revealed stress fractures in both symptomatic and asymptomatic locations, and 5.8% were negative in the symptomatic location but did reveal stress fracture(s) in asymptomatic locations. Twenty-one percent (18/85) of MRIs performed a mean 6 days (range, 0- 21 days) after a positive bone scan did not demonstrate any stress fracture.Conclusion:Bone stress injuries in military training environments are common, costly, and challenging to diagnose. MRI should be the imaging study of choice, after plain radiography, in those individuals meeting criteria for further workup.

AC is a better predictor of musculoskeletal injury risk than BMI in a large military population. Although absolute injury risk is greatest in 18- to 24-yr-old participants, the effect of obesity on injury risk is greatest in 25- to 34-yr-old participants. There is a dose-response relation between obesity and musculoskeletal injury risk, an effect seen with both BMI and AC.

Exertional rhabdomyolysis (ER) is an uncommon condition with a paucity of evidence-based guidance for diagnosis, management, and return to duty or play. Recently, a clinical practice guideline for diagnosis and management of ER in warfighters was updated by a team of military and civilian physicians and researchers using current scientific literature and decades of experience within the military population. The revision concentrated on challenging and controversial clinical questions with applicability to providers in the military and those in the greater sports medicine community. Specific topics addressed: 1) diagnostic criteria for ER; 2) clinical decision making for outpatient versus inpatient treatment; 3) optimal strategies for inpatient management; 4) discharge criteria; 5) identification and assessment of warfighters/athletes at risk for recurrent ER; 6) an appropriate rehabilitative plan; and finally, 7) key clinical questions warranting future research.

Although largely benign, sickle cell trait (SCT) has been associated with exertion-related events, to include sudden death. In 2011, a summit on SCT introduced the term exercise collapse associated with SCT (ECAST). A series of ECAST deaths in military personnel in 2019 prompted reevaluation of current efforts and led to a second summit in October 2019 hosted by the Consortium for Health and Military Performance of the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, MD. The goals were to (1) review current service policies on SCT screening, (2) develop draft procedural instructions for executing current policy on SCT within the Department of Defense, (3) develop draft clinical practice guidelines for management of ECAST, (4) establish a framework for education on SCT and ECAST, and (5) prepare a research agenda to address identified gaps.

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Context Musculoskeletal injury is the leading cause of attrition from military training. Objective To assess the effect of an embedded athletic training musculoskeletal care model within a basic military training unit. Design Cluster randomized trial. Setting United States Air Force Basic Military Training, Joint Base San Antonio—Lackland. Patients or Other Participants Military recruits randomly assigned to 1 of 3 training squadrons, 2 control and 1 experimental, between January 2016 and December 2018. Intervention(s) A sports medicine care model was established in 1 squadron by embedding 2 certified athletic trainers overseen by a sports medicine fellowship-trained physician. The athletic trainers diagnosed and coordinated rehabilitation as the primary point of contact for recruits and developed interventions with medical and military leadership based on injury trends. Main Outcome Measure(s) Recruit attrition from basic training due to a musculoskeletal injury. Secondary outcomes were all-cause attrition, on-time graduation, rates of lower extremity injury and stress fracture, rates of specialty care appointments, and fiscal costs. Results Recruits in the athletic training musculoskeletal care arm experienced 25% lower musculoskeletal-related attrition (risk ratio = 0.75 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.64, 0.89]) and 15% lower all-cause attrition (risk ratio = 0.85 [95% CI = 0.80, 0.91]), translating to a net saving of more than $10 million. The intervention reduced the incidence of lower extremity stress fracture by 16% (rate ratio = 0.84 [95% CI = 0.73, 0.97]). Conclusions An embedded athletic training musculoskeletal care model outperformed usual care across operational, medical, and fiscal outcomes.