Musculoskeletal injuries description of an under-recognized injury problem among military personnel.
BACKGROUND
Although injuries are recognized as a leading health problem in the military, the size of the problem is underestimated when only acute traumatic injuries are considered. Injury-related musculoskeletal conditions are common in this young, active population. Many of these involve physical damage caused by micro-trauma (overuse) in recreation, sports, training, and job performance. The purpose of this analysis was to determine the incidence of injury-related musculoskeletal conditions in the military services (2006) and describe a standardized format in which to categorize and report them.


METHODS
The subset of musculoskeletal diagnoses found to be injury-related in previous military investigations was identified. Musculoskeletal injuries among nondeployed, active duty service members in 2006 were identified from military medical surveillance data. A matrix was used to report and categorize these conditions by injury type and body region.


RESULTS
There were 743,547 injury-related musculoskeletal conditions in 2006 (outpatient and inpatient, combined), including primary and nonprimary diagnoses. In the matrix, 82% of injury-related musculoskeletal conditions were classified as inflammation/pain (overuse), followed by joint derangements (15%) and stress fractures (2%). The knee/lower leg (22%), lumbar spine (20%), and ankle/foot (13%) were leading body region categories.


CONCLUSIONS
When assessing the magnitude of the injury problem in the military services, injury-related musculoskeletal conditions should be included. When these injuries are combined with acute traumatic injuries, there are almost 1.6 million injury-related medical encounters each year. The matrix provides a standardized format to categorize these injuries, make comparisons over time, and focus prevention efforts on leading injury types and/or body regions.
Hauret
Keith G
KG
U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, USA. keith.hauret@us.army.mil
Jones
Bruce H
BH
Bullock
Steven H
SH
Canham-Chervak
Michelle
M
Canada
Sara
S
D012090:Cumulative Trauma Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008887:Military Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009141:Musculoskeletal System / Q000293:injuries*; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D013180:Sprains and Strains / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*