Can Baseline Recruit Characteristics Predict Actual Injuries Sustained During New Zealand Army Basic Training?

Area of Science:

• Military Medicine
• Sports Medicine
• Injury Prevention

Background:

• Army recruits face heightened injury risks during basic training.
• Identifying pre-training risk factors for lower limb injuries in New Zealand Army recruits is crucial.
• This study explored personal, lifestyle, and physical performance predictors of injury.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if baseline characteristics predict lower limb injuries in New Zealand Army recruits.
• To identify specific physical performance metrics associated with injury risk.
• To inform injury mitigation strategies for military training programs.

Main Methods:

• Collected baseline data on personal (age, BMI, sex), lifestyle (smoking, prior injury), and physical performance (2.4 km run, weight-bearing lunge test, Y Balance Test).
• Utilized backwards stepwise logistic regression to identify predictive variables for lower limb injuries.
• Set significance level at 0.10 for statistical analysis.

Main Results:

• 202 recruits (81.5%) were analyzed; 114 sustained injuries, 88 did not.
• Passing the 2.4 km timed run and Y Balance Test posterolateral reach (right limb) were associated with lower injury risk.
• The predictive model achieved 60.9% accuracy in classifying injured and non-injured recruits.

Conclusions:

• Not passing the entry 2.4 km timed run and a low right posterolateral Y Balance Test score predict lower limb injury risk in recruits.
• Physical performance screening at entry can identify high-risk individuals.
• Implementing targeted mitigation measures can potentially reduce future injury rates.