Musculoskeletal injuries among overweight army trainees: incidence and health care utilization

Abstract

Among this population who had passed a fitness test, those who were OBF had a substantially higher risk of injury and higher utilization for these injuries. Because the recruiting environment is much better, military entrance standards have been tightened, but should the economy improve substantially the military may again be challenged to recruit adequate numbers of personnel, and the lessons learned in this project may prove valuable.

A prospective study of physical fitness, obesity, and the subsequent risk of mental disorders among healthy young adults in army training

“…Age categories (18-19 years, 20-24 years and 25 years and over) were used based on results from previous ARMS studies which showed increased risk of musculoskeletal injuries and stress fractures by age group [24,27,28]. AFQT scores were divided into percentile categories which are used by the military to determine eligibility for enlistment [40].…”

“…This study was approved by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research Institutional Review Board. Data sources and methods have been previously described [27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. The ARMS fitness test included a 5-minute modified Harvard…”

Step Test Performance and Risk of Stress Fractures Among Female Army Trainees

“…[2][3][4][5][6] Military women have higher musculoskeletal injury and stress fracture risk. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Risk factors for musculoskeletal injury and stress fracture among military trainees are similar.…”

“…Data sources have been previously described. 2,[31][32][33] Because only OBF women who passed the step test were included in the ARMS study, they were excluded from these analyses.…”

Injury During U.S. Army Basic Combat Training

“…Trainees aged 20-24 years were reported to have roughly 1.2-1.3 times the risk of injury compared to younger trainees. 23,26,35 Trainees aged 24-25 years or older were reported to have roughly 1.5-4.3 times the risk of injury compared to the youngest trainees. 23,26,27,34,36 Although these studies ascertained smoking history in different ways, trainees reporting any history of smoking were found to have about 1.3-3.1 times the risk of injury compared to trainees not reporting a history of smoking.…”