MUSCULOSKELETAL FITNESS AS A PREDICTOR OF INJURY DURING POLICE ACADEMY TRAINING: A RETROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY

Orr R.1, Stewart M.2, Hinton B.3, Stierli M.3, Pope R.11Bond University, Tactical Research Unit, Gold Coast, Australia, 2Bond University, Health Sciences and Medicine, Gold Coast, Australia, 3New South Wales Police Force, Health and Fintess Unit, Sydney, AustraliaBackground: During tactical recruit training, physical fitness assessment items are performed to determine baseline fitness of each recruit compared to the normative selection criterion standards. Research has subsequently investigated whether certain physical characteristics and fitness outcome measure results can be used to predict the risk of injury to the tactical recruit population. These studies predominantly use military training recruits as opposed to police recruits.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of a muscle endurance test, a muscle power test and a muscle strength test as a valid fitness measure for predicting injury during police academy training.Methods: Retrospective data was provided from 219 police recruits completing recruit training at an Australian Police College. Recruits completed a muscle endurance test (Push-up [PU] test), power test (Vertical Jump [VJ] test) and strength test (left & right Grip Strength [GS] test) during Week 1 of training. Injury data were collected during the training period of 12-weeks. Statistical analysis included a backwards linear regression model with injury as the dependent variable, Spearmen’s correlations were used to determine the relationships between musculoskeletal test scores and rates of injury. Following descriptive analysis, independent samples t-tests and data bins in quartile ranges were used to investigate differences between injury affected groups and non-affected groups. Ethics approval for the study was obtained by the Bond University Human Research Ethics Committee (RO 1898), alpha levels were set at 0.05 a priori.Results: Injuries were reported by 26% (n=56) of participants and no injury by 74% (n=163) of participants. Significantly lower mean PU (p< 0.001), VJ (p=0.001) and GS (p=0.02) scores were observed in injured participants compared to those not injured. Spearman’s correlation showed a correlation between PU and injuries (rs = -.348, p< .0001), VJ and injuries (rs = -.224, p=.001), GS and injuries (rs = -.138, p=.042). Backwards linear regression showed a significant (p< .001) relationship between combined scores for PU, VJ height GS and injury (R2 = .112) with a large effect size.Conclusion(s): There is a significant and clinical relationship between performance in musculoskeletal fitness tests and risk of injury in police recruits undertaking basic training, most notably performance in the PU test where recruits who scored in lowest category were more than seven times more likely to sustain an injury during basic training.Implications: · Musculoskeletal health and fitness is vital for new recruits wishing to commence police recruit training. · Therapists treating police recruits undergoing training need to ensure their musculoskeletal is optimised prior to a return to training in order to increase their chance of training success.Funding acknowledgements: NATopic: MusculoskeletalEthics approval: Ethics approval for the study was obtained by the Bond University Human Research Ethics Committee (RO 1898)All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.