A comparison of injuries, limited-duty days, and injury risk factors in infantry, artillery, construction engineers, and special forces soldiers

We compared injuries/risk factors in infantry soldiers (I), construction engineers (CE), combat artillery (CA), and Special Forces (SF) during their operational and fitness activities. Anthropometrics, ethnicity, and fitness data were collected before review of medical records. Injury rates for I, CE, and CA were 4.0, 7.2, and 5.5 injuries/100 soldier-months, respectively; over 70% of them resulted from overuse. SF soldiers had an injury rate of 3.5 injuries/100 soldier-months, 50% of them reported as traumatic. Average limited-duty days (LDDs) were threefold higher in SF. Smoking, BMI > or =25, and APFT run time for 3.2 km >14 minutes were risk factors in I. Caucasian ethnicity, height or =90 kg, and BMI > or =25 were risk factors in CE and CA. Age >27 years old was a risk factor in SF. Greater emphasis should be placed on risk factor identification and testing strategies to reduce injuries among SF and other troops.