Injury Prevention for Active Duty Personnel

KEY FACTS:​

• Injuries are the leading reason for military medical visits across Services.
  
• DOD Active-duty Service members require medical treatment for injuries almost 5 million times each year (for around 1.5 million individual injuries). 
• There are 2 to 4 times more medical visits for injuries as the next most common reason which is behavioral and mental health. 
  
• Injuries degrade force readiness through millions of lost duty and training days and billions of dollars annually. 
  
• Majority (>2/3) of military injuries are musculoskeletal (MSK) cumulative mictrotraumatic (overuse) injuries.
• Most common cause of acute injuries (fractures, sprains, strains) is accidental falls.
  
• Most common cause of overuse injuries is excessive running, though can vary depending on unit mission and training. 
  
• Fatal and severe unintentional military injuries are often due to motor-vehicles, heat, and cold weather​​
  
• Prior heat-, cold-weather, or MSK injuries to a particular body region can predispose a person to a similar injury or long-term injury-related condition.
  

BENEFITS OF PREVENTING INJURIES:

• Reduce time loss to physical restrictions for work/training (temporary profile​) 
  
• Decrease costs (direct medical, compensation/disability, & lost duty time)
• Improve overall performance (individual and unit)

NEW AND HIG​HLIGHTED PROD​​UCTS:

• NEW Journal article: Relative Strength and Physical Performance in US Army Male and Female Soldiers (Aug 2024). Greater strength relative to body mass is associated with higher physical performance. Study finds military men and women deadlifting the highest percentage of their body mass (≥1.5 times for men and ≥1.25 times for women) outperformed those with lower relative strength in all 6 of the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) events. 
  
• NEW Journal article: Dietary supplement use and its relationship to chronic medical conditions​ (Jul 2024)
  
• Factsheet: U.S. Military Parachuting Injuries (May 2024)
  
• ​NEW: 2023-2024 ​MSK Injury technical presentations​
  
• News ​article: Are you injury prone?​ (Dec 2​​023) 
  
• Response to House Armed Service Committee (Nov 2023): Almost 1.5M new injuries occur across the Services annually, resulting in 2.2 times more medical visits than the second leading visit type, behavioral health. Most injuries (69%) are MSK overuse injuries. Army data show MSK injuries account for 55% of limited duty days (8.7M days/year). Annual Army direct and indirect injury costs are around $2.7 to 4.7B; 85% of costs are for MSK overuse injuries. 
  
• Factsheet: Body Mass Index: U.S. Army Considerations​ (Oct 2023) 
  
• Report: Standardized Approach to Department of Defense Medical Surveillance of Injuries: Initial Objectives of the Military Injuries Working Group, 2019 -2022 (May 2023). Injuries were the leading reason for military medical visits across Services (42%, 44%, 50%, and 35% for U.S. Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, and Navy). This was 2 to 4 times that of the next most common medical encounter category (mental and behavioral health conditions). Across the Services most are lower body overuse injuries from repetitive activities. 
  
• Operational Risk Management: Leader tool to help increase health and fitness, reduce injury in units​ (2023) 
  

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:​ 

• ​​​See References​ for additional injury prevention resources. 
• For other external educational resources, visit the Army Medicine Campaign Plan and Research to Practice Education Series webpages.​​
  

​​​​