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Understanding the musculoskeletal injury risk of women in combat: the effect of infantry training and sex on musculoskeletal injury incidence during British Army basic training
  1. Thomas J O'Leary1,
  2. S L Wardle1,
  3. A J Rawcliffe2,
  4. S Chapman2,
  5. J Mole3 and
  6. J P Greeves1,4
  1. 1 Army Health and Performance Research, British Army, Andover, Hampshire, UK
  2. 2 Army Recruiting and Initial Training Command, British Army, Upavon, Wiltshire, UK
  3. 3 Defence Statistics (Health), Defence Statistics, Abbey Wood, Bristol, UK
  4. 4 Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Thomas J O'Leary, Army Health and Physical Performance Research, British Army, Andover, Hampshire, UK; thomas.oleary100{at}mod.gov.uk

Abstract

Introduction Until recently, women were excluded from British combat roles. Their risk for musculoskeletal injury during basic training is two to three times higher than men. To better understand the musculoskeletal injury risk of women in British Army infantry basic training, we compared injury incidence between (1) men in standard entry training and men in infantry training, to assess the risk of infantry training; and (2) men and women in both standard entry and officer basic training, to assess the risk in women compared with men.

Methods The incidence of musculoskeletal injury was determined from defence medical records for all men entering infantry training, and for all men and women entering standard entry and officer training, between April 2015 and March 2016.

Results 7390 men (standard entry, n=4229; infantry, n=2683; officer, n=478) and 696 women (standard entry, n=626; officer, n=70) entered basic training. Men in infantry training had a lower incidence of musculoskeletal injury (391 vs 417 per 1000 personnel, OR 0.90 (95% CI 0.81 to 0.99), p=0.028) and a higher incidence of stress fracture (14 vs 5 per 1000 personnel, OR 2.80 (95% CI 1.64 to 4.80), p<0.001) than men in standard entry training. Women had a higher incidence of musculoskeletal injury than men in standard entry training (522 vs 417 per 1000 personnel, OR 1.53 (95% CI 1.29 to 1.81), p<0.001) and a higher incidence of stress fracture than men in officer training (114 vs 19 per 1000 personnel, OR 6.72 (95% CI 2.50 to 18.07), p<0.001).

Conclusion Women in infantry training may be at similar risk for musculoskeletal injury, but at higher risk for stress fracture, compared with their non-infantry counterparts. Women in infantry training may be at higher risk for musculoskeletal injury and stress fracture compared with men in infantry training.

  • epidemiology
  • occupational & industrial medicine
  • musculoskeletal disorders

Data availability statement

All data relevant to the study are included in the article.

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Data availability statement

All data relevant to the study are included in the article.

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Footnotes

  • Contributors TJOL, SLW and JPG designed the study. TJOL and JM performed the data analysis. TJOL produced the manuscript. All authors edited the manuscript for intellectual content and approved the final version.

  • Funding This work was funded by the British Army.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.