Prevention of Musculoskeletal Injuries in Slovenian Armed Forces

NCT ID: NCT03415464

Last Updated: 2023-02-23

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 160 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2017-01-01
• Study Completion Date: 2018-09-30

Brief Summary

Physical readiness of military personnel is a cornerstone of any army, as soldiers are expected to meet high physical demands on a daily basis, and soldiers must complete one hour of physical conditioning each day. Participation in physical conditioning increases the risk of musculoskeletal injuries, and our 10-year retrospective analysis shows that 5% of soldiers sustain a sports injury during physical conditioning each year, and that ankle and knee injuries have the highest incidence rates of 25% and 20%, respectively. The primary objective of our study is to decrease the rate of ankle and knee injuries by implementing a preventive training program. The study is designed as a prospective randomized controlled trial with two arms (experimental and control).

Detailed Description

Members of Slovenian Armed Forces - SAF (age range 18-51 years) are expected to participate in the study. Prior to recruitment the whole project will be explained to soldiers in a form of briefing during which they have the opportunity to ask and have answers to any questions concerning the nature of subsequent research. Following that explanation each participant will sign a consent form to voluntarily participate. No compensation will be given or promised for participation in a study that was approved by the Ethical board of the Faculty of Sport in Ljubljana (No. 454/2017). At the time of testing all soldiers must be free of acute injuries and should not reported any pain in musculo-skeletal system. Prior to the implementation of the preventive program all participants will underwent the set of functional testing that includes counterMovement jump (CMJ) testing, stork balANce test, pUll-ups, single leg hAmstrings bridge test, and loaded prone pLank test - MANUAL. Following initial testing a 15-week preventive training program will be implemented in experimental group, while control group will be training as usual. Following the intervention final testing will be performed to check for effectiveness of the intervention. After that a follow-up period will start during which injuries will be registered in both groups and later compared between groups (control and experimental) and within (2016-2017 injuries) groups to see if incidence rate of ankle and knee injuries has fallen.

Conditions

Knee Injuries and Disorders; Ankle Injuries and Disorders; Low Back Pain

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Functional training

15 weeks of structured exercise intervention in the form of functional training. We have divided 15 weeks into 5 cycles each cycle lasting 3 weeks. Intervention will be administered twice per week, and each session will last 45 minutes.Each 45 minutes will be further divided into 10 minutes of functional warm-up, 30 minutes of neuromuscular training (strength, agility, balance, coordination) and 5 minutes of cool down. During the 3 week period the intensity of exercise will be increased with different form of same exercise, different number of repetitions and exercise duration.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Exercise

Intervention Type: OTHER

neuromuscular training

Regular army training

Regular military training.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Exercise

neuromuscular training

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• no major injuries that would require more than 4 weeks to recover upon entry into the study
• age >18 y
• finished initial Army training

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 55 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

University of Ljubljana

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Vedran Hadzic

Head of the Sports Medicine Department, Faculty of Sport

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

University in Ljubljana

Ljubljana, , Slovenia

Countries

Slovenia

References

Kovcan B, Vodicar J, Simenko J, Videmsek M, Pori P, Vedran H. Retrospective and Cross-sectional Analysis of Physical Training-Related Musculoskeletal Injuries in Slovenian Armed Forces. Mil Med. 2019 Jan 1;184(1-2):e195-e199. doi: 10.1093/milmed/usy156. No abstract available.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 29982738 (View on PubMed)

Vodicar M, Kovcan B, Pori P, Vodicar J, Simenko J, Karpljuk D, Markovic G, Hadzic V. Regular strength training and baseline fitness in overweight infantry members of Slovenian Armed Forces. BMJ Mil Health. 2022 Apr;168(2):141-145. doi: 10.1136/bmjmilitary-2020-001451. Epub 2020 Jun 2.

Reference Type: RESULT

PMID: 32487675 (View on PubMed)

Simenko J, Kovcan B, Pori P, Vodicar J, Vodicar M, Hadzic V. The Relationship Between Army Physical Fitness and Functional Capacities in Infantry Members of the Slovenian Armed Forces. J Strength Cond Res. 2021 Dec 1;35(12):3506-3512. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000003344.

Reference Type: RESULT

PMID: 31800475 (View on PubMed)

Kozinc Z, Sarabon N, Kovcan B, Simenko J, Pori P, Vodicar J, Hadzic V. Effects of 12-week full body resistance exercise on vertical jumping with and without military equipment in Slovenian Armed Forces. BMJ Mil Health. 2023 Oct;169(5):391-396. doi: 10.1136/bmjmilitary-2021-001899. Epub 2021 Sep 7.

Reference Type: RESULT

PMID: 34493610 (View on PubMed)

Provided Documents

Document Type: Study Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan

View Document

Other Identifiers

630-1/2016-3

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id