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Musculoskeletal Injuries in the Military pp 267–286Cite as

Successful Injury Prevention Interventions

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Abstract

Musculoskeletal injury (MSK-I) in the military contributes to the largest number of lost duty days and financial burden more than any other disease or condition. Through a focus on surveillance, education, leadership support, and ensuring adequate resources for research and program evaluation, many successful interventions have been implemented over the years to address this problem in military communities. This chapter outlines the foundations and essential elements for military injury prevention program success. In particular, three broad categories of specific intervention strategies that have shown the most success are outlined: (1) preventing overtraining; (2) ankle bracing; and (3) performing multiaxial, neuromuscular, proprioceptive, and agility training. Also, successful injury prevention system approaches, including Sports Medicine and Reconditioning Team (SMART) Centers, will be described. Finally, future recommendations such as biomarker identification, movement pattern identification, and movement retraining will be summarized as ways to continue to address the MSK-I challenge in military settings.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Injury Prevention Research Laboratory, Consortium for Health and Military Performance, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Sarah J. de la Motte PhD, MPH, ATC

  2. National Capital Consortium, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD, USA

    LTC Robert Oh MD, MPH, MC

Authors
  1. Sarah J. de la Motte PhD, MPH, ATC
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  2. LTC Robert Oh MD, MPH, MC
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sarah J. de la Motte PhD, MPH, ATC .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Keller Army Hospital, West Point, New York, USA

    Kenneth L. Cameron

  2. Keller Army Hospital, West Point, New York, USA

    Brett D. Owens

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© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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de la Motte, S., Oh, R. (2016). Successful Injury Prevention Interventions. In: Cameron, K., Owens, B. (eds) Musculoskeletal Injuries in the Military. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2984-9_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2984-9_15

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-2983-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-2984-9

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