Musculoskeletal injuries in an Army airborne population

To maintain operational readiness, military personnel engage in vigorous physical and training activities that carry risk for injury. A 1-year prospective cohort study, starting April 1996, was conducted at Fort Bragg, North Carolina among 1,965 members of the 82nd Airborne Division to quantify musculoskeletal injuries. Information collected included type of injury, site, circumstances, and resultant limited duty days. These soldiers suffered 508 overuse injuries (including 38 stress fractures), 1,415 traumatic injuries (including 100 fractures), and 101 unclassified injuries. Injury rates were 6.8% per soldier per month for traumatic injury and 2.4% for overuse injury (totaling 1.2 injuries per soldier per year). Injuries resulted in 22,041 limited duty days, averaging 11 days per injury and 13 days per soldier (4.5% of total workdays). Fractures and stress fractures/reactions produced the most days lost per case. Most of these injuries resulted from military-specific activities.