Occupational burden in the line of duty: Focus on firefighter musculoskeletal injuries

BackgroundFirefighters are frequently exposed to high physical demands, making them especially vulnerable to musculoskeletal injuries. Understanding the scientific landscape surrounding this issue is vital for guiding preventive strategies and improving occupational health outcomes.ObjectıveThis study aims to examine the scholarly evolution of research on musculoskeletal injuries among firefighters. It identifies dominant research clusters, high-impact authors, collaboration patterns, and thematic concentrations through a bibliometric analysis.MethodsA bibliometric analysis was conducted using 152 peer-reviewed publications indexed in the web of science core collection between 1975 and September 2025. Vosviewer software was utilized to create visualizations of co-authorship, co-citation, keyword co-occurrence, and bibliographic coupling networks. A minimum occurrence threshold of five was set for keyword inclusion. Data were evaluated based on frequency, link strength, and temporal trends.ResultsA significant increase in scholarly output was observed after 2010, with a peak in 2023 in both publication count and citation rates. Frequently occurring keywords included "firefighters", "musculoskeletal injury", "occupational health", and "injury prevention". density visualizations revealed core themes centered on work-related injury risks, rehabilitation protocols, and tactical preparedness.ConclusıonsThe research landscape on firefighter musculoskeletal injuries has expanded considerably in both scope and academic impact. The field shows increasing interdisciplinary integration, notably between occupational health, rehabilitation science, and emergency response research. These findings highlight the importance of sustained, intervention-based research to reduce injury rates and support long-term workforce sustainability.