Musculoskeletal injury patterns associated with military operations

Musculoskeletal injury represents a significant attritional threat to troops on deployment and comprises a significant proportion of aeromedical evacuations from theatre. Whilst the incidence and outcome of battle injury (BI) is increasingly well understood, the picture regarding non-battle injury (NBI) is less clear despite the significantly higher incidence rate. This paper outlines and compares current evidence regarding the incidence, contributing factors and functional outcome of recent operational BI and NBI and highlights the need for further study into UK specific data and demographics.