Orr, Rob Marc

Schram, Ben

Tomes, Colin

English

In the conduct of their daily duties, law enforcement officers (LEO) are often required to perform challenging physical tasks with little or no notice, sometimes at maximal levels of exertion. Given these demands, musculoskeletal injuries(MSK-I) are prevalent across tactical professions, and contribute substantially to attrition from training, healthcare costs, and time lost from duty

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Bond UniversityResearch RepositoryIf They Are Not Fit, They Risk Injury: The use of Fitness Testing Results to Predict Injury inPolice RecruitsTomes, Colin; Schram, Ben; Orr, Rob MarcUnpublished: 11/02/2020Document Version:Peer reviewed versionLink to publication in Bond University research repository.Recommended citation(APA):Tomes, C., Schram, B., & Orr, R. M. (2020). If They Are Not Fit, They Risk Injury: The use of Fitness TestingResults to Predict Injury in Police Recruits. 5th International Congress on Soldiers' Physical Performance,Quebec, Canada.General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright ownersand it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.For more information, or if you believe that this document breaches copyright, please contact the Bond University research repositorycoordinator.Download date: 12 Apr 2020https://bond.edu.au/truIf They Are Not Fit, They Risk Injury:The Use of Fitness Testing Results to Predict Injury in Police Recruits Colin Tomes1 Ben Schram1,2, & Robin Orr1,2 1Faculty of Health Sciences & Medicine, Bond Institute of Health and Sport, Bond University, Gold Coast QLD 4229, Australia2Tactical Research Unit, Bond University, Gold Coast QLD 4229, Australiahttps://bond.edu.au/tru15/02/2020 2Presentation Outline • Introduction  • Brief overview of literature• Methods• Study design, data, analyses• Results• Main findings• Practical Applicationhttps://bond.edu.au/tru15/02/2020 3Introduction• Occupational Profile• Dynamic physically demanding tasks 2• Unpredictable environment 3• Resilience to span a career• Fitness Standards • Ensuring physical readiness for police work4• Training injuries• Sudden change in physical activity level5• Reducing attrition • Cost6• Shrinking application pool7https://bond.edu.au/tru15/02/2020 4Literature Overview• Largest systematic review and analysis of its kind1• 27 studies from seven countries• Military, LEO, and FBI populations represented• Main Findings• Organization training practices, local conditions and mission profile all dictate different physical fitness needs for success• Fitness will usually predict injury  https://bond.edu.au/tru15/02/2020 5Methods Design• Retrospective cohort• Population: NZ Police College recruits classes from 2014-2017• PAT: 2.4km run, vertical jump, push-up, grip strength• Incomplete training records were excluded• Near misses were not considered• Injury definition • Musculoskeletal or peripheral nervous system injuries onlyhttps://bond.edu.au/tru15/02/2020 6MethodsThe Physical Ability Test (PAT)• Performed at least twice for all trainees: once for selection, and again before traveling to the RNZ Police College for training• 2.4km run• Self paced event with time given every 200m• Level, outdoor track• Vertical Jump• Standing reach height recorded first• 3 trials, best of three with either hand recorded• Push-ups to Exhaustion• No time limitation to allow for complete muscle failure• Grip Strength• Right, Left and summed measurementshttps://bond.edu.au/tru15/02/2020 7MethodsStatistical Analysis• Data were distributed non-normally• Mann-Whitney U tests• Performance quintile testing• Spearman’s correlation• Cliff’s delta https://bond.edu.au/tru15/02/2020 8Results2.4km Run• Not a statistically significant predictor of injuryPushups• Significant predictor of any injury, but not of a specific injury type• P = 0.01, Rho = -0.166Vertical Jump• Significant predictor of lower limb injury only• P = 0.03, Rho = -0.15Grip Strength• Predictive of trunk injury and of any injury• P = 0.04-0.007, Rho = -0.195-0.131https://bond.edu.au/tru15/02/2020 9Results: Spearman’s CorrelationPercentage of injured cadets within each performance quintile, push-up testhttps://bond.edu.au/tru15/02/2020 10Results: Spearman’s CorrelationPercentage of injured cadets within each performance quintile, combined grip strengthhttps://bond.edu.au/tru15/02/2020 11Results: Spearman’s CorrelationPercentage of injured cadets within each performance quintile, right hand grip strengthhttps://bond.edu.au/tru15/02/2020 12Discussion2.4km Run• May be an ineffective estimator of metabolic fitness in this population• ceiling effect• The injury profile of our cohort may differ from that of military traineesPushups• Agrees with previous research in military trainees 8• May be a better global muscular fitness assessment than specific for upper bodyVertical Jump• Agrees with previous police trainee research 9• May effectively measure police-specific tasks; short duration, maximal exertionGrip Strength• Mixed results between R), L) and combined• Generally agrees with other tactical research 10• May be a key component of police-specific taskshttps://bond.edu.au/tru15/02/2020 13ConclusionPractical Applications• Overuse injuries are especially common• Training load, especially with respect to the upper limb should be monitored and graded across the training timeline• Injuries of the upper limb are especially common in police recruits• Specific assessment of the upper limb, such as a pull-up may be useful• Physical fitness testing should reflect occupational tasks• Distance run events may not be useful in a police context• Police work is often externally pacedhttps://bond.edu.au/tru15/02/2020 14References1. Tomes CD, Sawyer S, Orr R, Schram B. Ability of fitness testing to predict injury risk during initial tactical training: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Injury prevention. 2020 Feb 1;26(1):67-81.Bonneau, J. and J. Brown, Physical ability, fitness and police work. Journal of Clinical Forensic Medicine, 1995. 2(3): p. 157-164.2. Grier, T.L., et al., Evaluating Injury Risk and Gender Performance on Health- and Skill-Related Fitness Assessments. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 2017. 31(4): p. 971.3. Arvey, R.D., T.W. Landon, S.M. Nutting, and S.E. Maxwell, Development of physical ability tests for police officers: a construct validation approach. The Journal of applied psychology, 1992. 77(6): p. 996.4. Orr, R., J.J. Knapik, and R. Pope, Avoiding Program-Induced Cumulative Overload (PICO).Journal of special operations medicine : a peer reviewed journal for SOF medical professionals, 2016. 16(2): p. 91-95.5. Weatherburn, D.J., Law and order in Australia : rhetoric and reality. 2004, Annandale, N.S.W.: Federation Press.6. Cawley, J. and J.C. Maclean, Unfit for service: The implications of rising obesity for us military recruitment. Health Economics, 2012. 21(11): p. 1348-1366https://bond.edu.au/tru15/02/2020 15References7. Armstrong DW, 3rd, Rue JP, Wilckens JH, Frassica FJ. Stress fracture injury in young military men and women. Bone. 2004;35(3):806-16.8. Orr R, Pope R, Peterson S, Hinton B, Stierli M. Leg Power as an Indicator of Riskof Injury or Illness in Police Recruits. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2016;13(2):237.9. Orr R, Pope R, Stierli M, Hinton B. Grip Strength and Its Relationship to Police Recruit Task Performance and Injury Risk: A Retrospective Cohort Study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017;14(8).https://bond.edu.au/truIf They Are Not Fit, They Risk Injury:The Use of Fitness Testing Results to Predict Injury in Police Recruits Colin Tomes1 Ben Schram1,2, & Robin Orr1,2 1Faculty of Health Sciences & Medicine, Bond Institute of Health and Sport, Bond University, Gold Coast QLD 4229, Australia2Tactical Research Unit, Bond University, Gold Coast QLD 4229, Australiarorr@bond.edu.au

If They Are Not Fit, They Risk Injury: The use of Fitness Testing Results to Predict Injury in Police Recruits

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If They Are Not Fit, They Risk Injury: The use of Fitness Testing Results to Predict Injury in Police Recruits

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