Injury Profiles of Police Recruits Undergoing Basic Physical Training: A Prospective Cohort Study

Merrick, N; Hart, NH; Mosler, Andrea; Allen, G; Murphy, MC

doi:10.26181/23740059.v1

1206662_Merrick,N_2023.pdf (519.66 kB)

Injury Profiles of Police Recruits Undergoing Basic Physical Training: A Prospective Cohort Study

journal contribution

posted on 2023-07-25, 00:13 authored by N Merrick, NH Hart, Andrea MoslerAndrea Mosler, G Allen, MC Murphy

Purpose: A lack of published epidemiological data among police recruits presents a major challenge when designing appropriate prevention programs to reduce injury burden. We aimed to report the injury epidemiology of Western Australian (WA) Police Force recruits and examine sex and age as injury risk factors. Methods: Retrospective analyses were conducted of prospectively collected injury data from WA Police Force recruits between 2018–2021. Injury was defined as ‘time-loss’ and injury incidence rate per 1000 training days (Poisson exact 95% confidence intervals) was calculated. For each region and type of injury, the incidence, severity, and burden were calculated. The association between age, sex, and injury occurrence were assessed using Cox regression time-to-event analysis. Results: A total of 1316 WA Police Force recruits were included, of whom 264 recruits sustained 304 injuries. Injury prevalence was 20.1% and the incidence rate was 2.00 (95%CI 1.78–2.24) injuries per 1000 training days. Lower limb injuries accounted for most of the injury burden. Ligament/ joint injuries had the highest injury tissue/pathology burden. The most common activity injuring recruits was physical training (31.8% of all injuries). Older age (Hazard Ratio = 1.5, 95%CI = 1.2 to 1.9, p = 0.002) and female sex (Hazard Ratio = 1.4, 95%CI = 1.3 to 1.6, p < 0.001) increased risk of injury. Conclusion: Prevention programs targeting muscle/tendon and ligament/joint injuries to the lower limb and shoulder should be prioritised to reduce the WA Police Force injury burden. Injury prevention programs should also prioritise recruits who are over 30 years of age or of female sex, given they are a higher risk population.

Funding

This work was supported via industry funding from the Western Australian Police Force, Joondalup, Western Australia, Australia. Grant ID: G1006008. MM and NHH are partly supported by the Defence Science Centre (WA), within the Department of Defence, Science and Technology, on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia.

History

Publication Date

2023-03-01

Journal

Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation

Volume

33

Pagination

(p. 170-178)

Publisher

Springer Nature

ISSN

1053-0487

Rights Statement

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