Profiles of musculoskeletal injuries among Greek Army officer cadets during basic combat training.

OBJECTIVE

Injury prevalence and types of injury were recorded among Greek Army officer cadets during basic combat training (BCT).

METHODS

Two hundred thirty-three male recruits from the Hellenic Army Academy were monitored for musculoskeletal injuries during a 7-week BCT period.

RESULTS

Sixty-six (28.3%) recruits suffered from some form of injury, leading to 1.22 training days lost per study recruit. More than half of the injuries (51.3%) occurred in the first 2 weeks of the BCT, with ankle/foot strains and sprains being the most common injuries.

CONCLUSION

Despite the absence of fractures and the low number of upper extremity injuries during the BCT, injury prevalence was high, with ankle- and foot-related injuries to be responsible for a long period of lost training days. Preventive efforts should focus on addressing the high rate of first-time and recurrent ankle ligament sprains and possible protective equipment to limit their frequency and severity.