The top-cited military relevant spine articles

Area of Science:

• Orthopedics
• Military Medicine
• Spine Surgery

Background:

• Musculoskeletal injuries, particularly lumbosacral spine injuries, are prevalent among US service members.
• These injuries often manifest as lower back and extremity pain, impacting military readiness.
• Spine-related conditions are a significant concern across all branches of the US military.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and characterize the 50 most-cited articles in military medicine concerning spine injuries.
• To analyze trends in research related to military spine orthopaedics.
• To provide an overview of seminal works in the field of military spine research.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive literature search was conducted using Web of Science in April 2020.
• Keywords included various spine-related terms (e.g., spinal cord injury, spine, back pain, neck pain) and military contexts (e.g., combat, military).
• Articles published from 1900 to 2020 were evaluated for relevance and ranked by citation count.

Main Results:

• The 50 most-cited articles, published between 1993 and 2017, received 24 to 119 citations.
• Sixty percent (60%) of these articles originated in the United States.
• The most frequent journals were *Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine* and *Spine*; the US Army contributed the most articles, with research from Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom being highly cited.

Conclusions:

• The most influential research on military spine orthopaedics is largely US-based and clinically focused.
• Key journals for this research include *Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine*, *Spine*, and *The Spine Journal*.
• The findings highlight the importance of non-surgical approaches and specific conflicts in shaping the literature on military spine injuries.