Article Text
Abstract
Introduction Concussions have been associated with an increased risk of lower-extremity musculoskeletal injury (LE-MSI) in athletes and US Army soldiers, creating an added economic, physical and social burden. Yet, there is a paucity of evidence on this relationship among Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) cadets, a group which engages in activities with high-injury risk and will subsequently commission as active duty officers. This study aimed to examine the association between concussions and LE-MSI in ROTC cadets.
Methods 125 (83 were male) Army and Air Force ROTC cadets (19.8±2.0 years) from two large state universities’ Army and Air Force ROTC programmes participated in this study. Cadets completed a reliable injury history questionnaire to ascertain the following variables of interest: (1) any concussion history, (2) reported concussions, (3) undiagnosed concussions, and (4) potentially unrecognised concussion history and LE-MSI history (eg, ankle sprain, knee sprain or muscle strain). Data were analysed using a χ2 test for association and binary logistic regression to determine ORs.
Results Cadets with any concussion history (n=42) had a significantly (p=0.035) higher association with LE-MSI (OR 2.47, 95% CI 1.05 to 5.83) than those without. Cadets who had a reported concussion (n=33) had a significantly (p=0.026) higher association with LE-MSI (OR 2.95, 95% CI 1.11 to 7.84) compared to cadets without.
Conclusions ROTC cadets with a history of diagnosed concussion were more likely to have suffered an LE-MSI than cadets without a concussion history. ROTC cadre should be aware of this relationship and incorporate injury prevention protocols.
- neurological injury
- epidemiology
- sports medicine
- epidemiology
Data availability statement
Data are available upon reasonable request. Data may be requested via email request made to author Katherine J Hunzinger (khunzing@udel.edu).
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Data availability statement
Data are available upon reasonable request. Data may be requested via email request made to author Katherine J Hunzinger (khunzing@udel.edu).
Footnotes
Twitter @HunzingerUD, @KaraRadzak
Contributors KJH, KNR, CBS and TAB were involved in the planning, conduct and design of the study. KJH and KMC were involved in data collection for site 1 and KNR for site 2. KJH and KMC were involved in the overall data analysis. All authors contributed to data interpretation and manuscript writing.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
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