Lower Extremity Musculoskeletal Injury in US Military Academy Cadet Basic Training: A Survival Analysis Evaluating Sex, History of Injury, and Body Mass Index

Abstract

Background: Injury incidence for physically active populations with a high volume of physical load can exceed 79%. There is little existing research focused on timing of injury and how that timing differs based on certain risk factors. Purpose/Hypothesis: The purpose of this study was to report both the incidence and timing of lower extremity injuries during cadet basic training. We hypothesized that women, those with a history of injury, and those in underweight and obese body mass index (BMI) categories would sustain lower extremity musculoskeletal injury earlier in the training period than men, those without injury history, and those in the normal-weight BMI category. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2. Methods: Cadets from the class of 2022, arriving in 2018, served as the study population. Baseline information on sex and injury history was collected via questionnaire, and BMI was calculated from height and weight taken during week 1 at the United States Military Academy. Categories were underweight (BMI <20), middleweight (20-29.99), and obese (≥30). Injury surveillance was performed over the first 60 days of training via electronic medical record review and monitoring. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used to estimate group differences in time to the first musculoskeletal injury. Cox proportional hazard regression was used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs). Results: A total of 595 cadets participated. The cohort was 76.8% male, with 29.9% reporting previous injury history and 93.3% having a BMI between 20 and 30. Overall, 16.3% of cadets (12.3% of male cadets and 29.7% of female cadets) experienced an injury during the follow-up period. Women experienced significantly greater incident injury than did men ( P < .001). Separation of survival curves comparing the sexes and injury history occurred at weeks 3 and 4, respectively. Hazards for first musculoskeletal injury were significantly greater for women versus men (HR, 2.63; 95% CI, 1.76-3.94) and for those who reported a history of injury versus no injury history (HR, 1.76; 95% CI, 1.18-2.64). No differences were observed between BMI categories. Conclusion: Female cadets and those reporting previous musculoskeletal injury demonstrated a greater hazard of musculoskeletal injury during cadet basic training. This study did not observe an association between BMI and injury.