Prevention of Musculoskeletal Injuries in Slovenian Armed Forces

Low Back Pain Clinical Trial

Official title:

Prevention of Musculoskeletal Injuries in Slovenian Armed Forces

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03415464
• Other study ID #: 630-1/2016-3
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: January 1, 2017
• Est. completion date: September 30, 2018

Study information

• Verified date: February 2023
• Source: University of Ljubljana
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial 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).

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.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 160
• Est. completion date: September 30, 2018
• Est. primary completion date: July 30, 2018
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 55 Years

Eligibility

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

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Ankle Injuries
• Ankle Injuries and Disorders
• Disease
• Knee Injuries
• Knee Injuries and Disorders
• Low Back Pain
• Wounds and Injuries

Intervention

Other:
• Exercise
neuromuscular training

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Slovenia	University in Ljubljana	Ljubljana

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Ljubljana

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Slovenia, 

References & Publications (4)

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. Erratum In: Mil Med. 2019 Mar 1;184(3-4):111. — View Citation

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. 2021 Sep 7:bmjmilitary-2021-001899. — View Citation

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.000 — View Citation

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 — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Number of Soldiers With Ankle and Knee Injuries	Percentage of soldiers with ankle and knee injuries during the study period.	1 year
Secondary	Vertical Jump Performance	jump height in countermovement jump	15 weeks
Secondary	Pull-ups Performance	number of overhand pull-ups in one minute	15 weeks
Secondary	Hamstring Repetitive Strength	Number of single leg raises on the 60 cm box	15 weeks