Overview: •The Quest for the perfect predictive test(s) •Why the Quest is doomed •Alternative? The Public Health approach? •A better way: holistic risk management •Identify context, tactical tasks & task requirements •Identify required physical conditioning elements & levels •Tactical fitness vs athletic/ sports fitness vs health fitness •Identify mismatches •Identify & prioritise risks arising from mismatches •Consider risk treatment strategies & associated risks •Fairness, the greater good, the personnel pool & more •Risk management approaches •Concluding remarks
Sports participation in the military is important for physical fitness and building morale and camaraderie. However, injuries caused by sports are detrimental to military capability. The purpose of this study was to investigate patterns of injury from sports participation in Australian Regular Army personnel. Injury data spanning a two-year period were obtained from the Department of Defence Workplace Health, Safety, Compensation, and Reporting (WHSCAR) database. Data were extracted for the top five sporting activities causing injuries. The most common body sites, natures, and mechanisms of injuries across these five sports were then determined. Sports participation accounted for 11% (n = 1092) of reported injuries (n = 9828). Soccer presented with the greatest number of injuries (23.3%), followed by rugby union/league (22.9%), touch football (18.6%), Australian rules football (12.0%), and basketball/netball (11.9%). The ankle, knee, and shoulder were the most injured body sites (21.9% ; 17.2% ; 11.6% respectively) across these five sports, with soft tissue injury, dislocation, and fractures being the most common natures of injury (55.1% ; 12.7% ; 11.9% respectively). The most common mechanisms of injuries were contact with objects (35.1%) and falls (27.4%). The current injury rates, locations, and mechanisms are similar to historical rates suggesting little impact by injury mitigation strategies.
Despite having to perform the same occupational tasks as full-time soldiers, part-time soldiers may have lower levels of physical conditioning and report higher rates of injury per unit exposure to active service. The purpose of this study was to profile the leading body site of injury occurring in part-time soldiers to inform injury prevention strategies. Injury data from the Australian Army Reserve (ARES) spanning a two-year period were obtained from the Department of Defence Workplace Health, Safety, Compensation and Reporting database pertaining to locations, nature, mechanisms, and the activity being performed at the time of injury. Among the 1434 injuries reported by ARES personnel, the knee was the most common injury site (n = 228, 16%). Soft tissue injury due to trauma or unknown causes was the most common nature of knee injury (n = 177, 78%). Combat training was the most common activity being performed when soft tissue injuries occurred at the knee (n = 73, 42%), with physical training the second most common (n = 51, 30%), due to muscular stress (n = 36, 71%) and falls (n = 8, 16%). Targeted intrinsic and extrinsic approaches to injury minimization strategies for soft tissue knee injuries during combat and physical training should be designed.
Occupational health and safety incidents occurring in the military context are of great concern to personnel and commanders. Incidents such as &ldquo ; dangerous incidents&rdquo ; &ldquo ; exposures&rdquo ; and &ldquo ; near misses&rdquo ; (as distinct from injuries, illnesses, and fatalities) indicate serious health and safety risks faced by military personnel, even if they do not cause immediate harm. These risks may give rise to harm in the future, if not adequately addressed, and in some cases the incidents may cause latent harm. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the rates and patterns of incidents of these types reported by full time (ARA) and part time (ARES) Australian Army personnel. A retrospective cohort study was performed using self-reported incident data from the Workplace Health, Safety, Compensation and Reporting (WHSCAR) database over a two-year period. Data were analysed descriptively. Of 3791 such incidents, 3636 (96 percent) occurred in ARA and 155 (4 percent) in ARES personnel, somewhat consistent with the proportions of total army person-years served in each (ARA 93 percent ; ARES 7 percent). In ARA, 84 percent of these incident types were exposures, 14 percent near misses, and 2 percent dangerous incidents. In ARES, 55 percent of incidents were exposures, 38 percent near misses, and 7 percent dangerous incidents. Soldiers at the rank of &lsquo ; private&rsquo ; experienced the highest rates of these incident types, in both ARA and ARES. Driving gave rise to more near misses than any other activity, in both populations. Exposures to chemicals and sounds were more common in the ARA than ARES. The ARES reported higher proportions of vehicle near misses and multiple mechanism dangerous incidents than the ARA. The findings of this study can usefully inform development of risk mitigation strategies for dangerous incidents, exposures, and near misses in army personnel.
Tactical athletes (military, law enforcement and firefighters) are required to carry heavy external loads as part of their occupation - as are several other occupations and sporting athletes. Uniquely this session will merge science and practical application to minimise the risk of injury caused by load carriage and optimise performance. Factors influencing tactical load carriage, from load weight to environment, will be examined as will the negative impacts of load carriage to the athlete and their performance. The session will conclude with a ready-to-apply load carriage conditioning framework that is evidence-based and has been tried and tested in tactical populations
Background With the removal of gender restrictions and the changing nature of warfare potentially increasing female soldier exposure to heavy military load carriage, the aim of this research was to determine relative risks and patterns of load carriage related injuries in female compared to male soldiers. Methods The Australian Defence Force Occupational Health, Safety and Compensation Analysis and Reporting workplace injury database was searched to identify all reported load carriage injuries. Using key search terms, the narrative description fields were used as the search medium to identify records of interest. Population estimates of the female: male incident rate ratio (IRR) were calculated with ninety-five percent confidence interval (95% CI) around the population estimate of each IRR determined. Results Female soldiers sustained 10% (n = 40) of the 401 reported injuries, with a female to male IRR of 1.02 (95% CI 0.74 to 1.41). The most common site of injury for both genders was the back (F: n = 11, 27%; M: n = 80, 22%), followed by the foot in female soldiers (n = 8, 20%) and the ankle (n = 60, 17%) in male soldiers. Fifteen percent (n = 6) of injuries in female soldiers and 6% (n = 23) of injuries in males were classified as Serious Personal Injuries (SPI) with the lower back the leading site for both genders (F: n = 3, 43%: M: n = 8, 29%). The injury risk ratio of SPI for female compared to male soldiers was 2.40 (95% CI 0.98 to 5.88). Conclusions While both genders similarly have the lower back as the leading site of injury while carrying load, female soldiers have more injuries to the foot as the second leading site of injury, as opposed to ankle injuries in males. The typically smaller statures of female soldiers may have predisposed them to their observed higher risk of suffering SPI while carrying loads.
Abstract Background With the removal of gender restrictions and the changing nature of warfare potentially increasing female soldier exposure to heavy military load carriage, the aim of this research was to determine relative risks and patterns of load carriage related injuries in female compared to male soldiers. Methods The Australian Defence Force Occupational Health, Safety and Compensation Analysis and Reporting workplace injury database was searched to identify all reported load carriage injuries. Using key search terms, the narrative description fields were used as the search medium to identify records of interest. Population estimates of the female: male incident rate ratio (IRR) were calculated with ninety-five percent confidence interval (95% CI) around the population estimate of each IRR determined. Results Female soldiers sustained 10% ( n = 40) of the 401 reported injuries, with a female to male IRR of 1.02 (95% CI 0.74 to 1.41). The most common site of injury for both genders was the back (F: n = 11, 27%; M: n = 80, 22%), followed by the foot in female soldiers ( n = 8, 20%) and the ankle ( n = 60, 17%) in male soldiers. Fifteen percent ( n = 6) of injuries in female soldiers and 6% ( n = 23) of injuries in males were classified as Serious Personal Injuries (SPI) with the lower back the leading site for both genders (F: n = 3, 43%: M: n = 8, 29%). The injury risk ratio of SPI for female compared to male soldiers was 2.40 (95% CI 0.98 to 5.88). Conclusions While both genders similarly have the lower back as the leading site of injury while carrying load, female soldiers have more injuries to the foot as the second leading site of injury, as opposed to ankle injuries in males. The typically smaller statures of female soldiers may have predisposed them to their observed higher risk of suffering SPI while carrying loads.
Law-enforcement officers increasingly wear body armour for protection; wearing body armour is common practice in military populations. Law-enforcement and military occupational demands are vastly different and military-styled body armour may not be suitable for law-enforcement. This study investigated differences between selected military body armour (MBA: 6.4 kg) and law-enforcement body armour (LEBA: 2.1 kg) in impacts on postural sway, vertical jump, agility, a functional movement screen (FMS), task simulations (vehicle exit; victim recovery), and subjective measures. Ten volunteer police officers (six females, four males) were randomly allocated to one of the designs on each of two days. Body armour type did not significantly affect postural sway, vertical jump, vehicle exit and 5 m sprint times, or victim recovery times. Both armour types increased sway velocity and sway-path length in the final five seconds compared to the first 5 s of a balance task. The MBA was associated with significantly slower times to complete the agility task, poorer FMS total scores, and poorer subjective ratings of performance and comfort. The LEBA was perceived as more comfortable and received more positive performance ratings during the agility test and task simulations. The impacts of MBA and LEBA differed significantly and they should not be considered interchangeable.
Aim •To profile the incidents & injuries reported in Part-time compared to Full-time soldiers serving in the Australian Army Methods •Retrospective cohort study, covering 01 Jul 2012 –30 Jun 2014 •Incident data for ARES & ARA extracted from WHSCAR database by system administrators & made non-identifiable •Inclusion Criteria: –Incident or injury sustained by Part-time or Full-time personnel –Incident or injury occurred during 01 July 2012-30 June 2014 •Exclusion Criteria: –Foreign defence service on secondment –Missing data •Population sizes ascertained from annual Defence Agency Resources & Planned Performance reports •Total annual numbers of ARES days served provided by AHQ •Data analysis: –Comparison of the types, source & mechanisms of these incidents –Frequency distributions of key incidents –Compare Part-time vs. Full-time incidents & injuries –Incidence & injury rates Year One vs. Year Two
Aims: 1. To investigate & compare the incidence rates of WHS incidents & injuries in ARES & ARA populations, reported in the WHSCAR database 2. To compare these injury incidence rates to injury rates reported by other injury surveillance systems for comparable army populations
Aim of the Review •…to critically appraise and discuss the findings of existing research that has compared the physical characteristics and physical performance capacities of PT and FT tactical personnel This research was supported by a grant from the Defence Health Foundation Methods 1. Literature databases searched: PubMed, CINAHL, EBSCO, and Web of Science were searched using key search terms. ("full-time" OR "part-time" OR "reserve") AND ("home guard" OR "army" OR "defence" OR "defense" OR "police" OR "military" OR "soldiers" OR "firefighters" OR "first responder") 2. Reference lists of included articles were manually searched 3. Colleagues with expertise in the topic area were asked to identify any additional articles of relevance. Methods •The inclusion criteria were: –(a) the study was published in the English language; –(b) the study involved human participants; –(c) the study was published in 1994 or later; –(d) the study involved participants from tactical populations –(e) the study included both part-time and full-time participants •The exclusion criterion was any study that did not examine anthropometric or physical performance measure(s)
