Lyons, Kate

Orr, Rob Marc

Pope, Rodney R

Stierli, Michael

English

Aim: To determine the musculoskeletal profile of lower extremity injuries within a state law enforcement agency.Design: Retrospective cohort study.Methods: Data were collected by the NSW Police Force over a 7-year period (2009- 2016). Data not meeting the specific definitions for musculoskeletal injury were excluded using a tiered system with data cleaned to ensure no incomplete entries and recoding to improve data integrity. Ethics approval was granted from Bond University (015360).Results: Of the initial 65,579 incidents, 12,452 (19%) were musculoskeletal lower limb incidents. The knee was the most commonly injured site (31.4%) with sprains/strains(42.3%) the most common nature of injury and arresting offenders (24.2%) the most common incident activity. Slips/trips/falls (37.8%) were found to be the most common cause of injury. Variations were found between gender most notably within the incident activity (p&lt;.001) where males had a 10.6% higher rate for resting an offender and females an 8.6% higher rate for walking/running. The mean number of hours worked prior to injury was 6.12±3.96, mean shift length = 10.34±3.52hours.Conclusion / Key Practice Points: The leading sites of injuries (knees and ankles) were similar to that of other tactical populations. The tendency for injuries to occur later in a shift suggest that fatigue may play a part.·    Evidence based lower extremity injury reduction measures and return-to-work protocols may be of use in this population·    Work hardening should include specific tasks (like arresting an offender) and progress to functionality over a full shift length.</p

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Bond UniversityResearch RepositoryPolice Injuries in ProfileLyons, Kate; Orr, Rob Marc; Pope, Rodney R; Stierli, MichaelPublished: 17/10/2017Document Version:Peer reviewed versionLink to publication in Bond University research repository.Recommended citation(APA):Lyons, K., Orr, R. M., Pope, R. R., & Stierli, M. (2017). Police Injuries in Profile. APA National PhysiotherapyConference MOMENTUM 2017, Sydney, Australia.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: 22 Aug 2019Police injuries in profile1Kate Lyons, 2Rob Orr, 3Rodney Pope, 4Mick Stierli1HSM, Bond University 2Tactical Research Unit - North, Bond University 3Tactical Research Unit - South,  Charles Sturt University 4NSW PoliceIntroduction• In tactical populations such as the military and fire-fighters the lower extremity contributes between 31.7% and 66.5%.• In the current law enforcement literature the lower extremity contributes between 13.2% and 29.7%.Introduction• Law enforcement personnel are required to perform tasks carrying loads which can range from 3-15kg.• They can be required to perform arduous tasks in situations that are unpredictable and can be life threatening in some circumstances.• Therefore they may be at a higher risk of musculoskeletal injury when compared to many other occupations.Aim• To determine the musculoskeletal profile of lower extremity injuries within a state law enforcement agency.Methods• Retrospective cohort study• Data were collected by the NSW Police Force over a 7-year period (2009 - 2016). Data not meeting the specific definitions for musculoskeletal injury were excluded using a tiered system with data cleaned to ensure no incomplete entries and recoded to improve data integrity. • Ethics approved by Bond University HREC, Protocol Number RO15360, with compliant consent waiverMethods• Definitions– Injury: ‘harm to the body which occurred as a result of energy applied to the body whilst on duty’– MSK injuries: ‘injuries/incidents of a musculoskeletal nature, affecting the muscles, nerves, tendons, joints and cartilage’– Lower extremity: ‘injuries to toe/s, foot, ankle, knee, groin, hip/s, leg-upper, leg-lower and leg-not classified’Methods• Data Analysis– Initially completed descriptively • Frequencies determined and means with standard deviations (SD) where applicable – Chi-square tests of independence (R x C) • Key descriptive variables between genders – Cramer’s V then calculated • Strength of any significant association• Level of significance set at < .001 ResultsOf the initial 65,579 incidents:• 12,452 (19%) were musculoskeletal lower limb incidents.• The knee was the most commonly injured site (31.4%) • Sprains and strains where the most common nature of injury (42.3%)• Arresting offenders (24.2%) was the most common cause of injury.• Slips/trips/falls (37.8%) were found to be the most common cause of injuryResultsResults• Variations were found between gender. Most notably within the incident activity (p<.001), where males had a 10.6% higher rate for arresting an offender and females an 8.6% higher rate for walking/running. • The mean number of hours worked prior to injury was 6.12±3.96, mean shift length = 10.34±3.52 hours.Discussion• The leading sites of injuries (knees and ankles) were similar to that of other tactical populations. • The tendency for injuries to occur later in a shift suggest that fatigue may play a part.Discussion• For any Police Force unit, injuries have consequences that can range from a couple of days for recovery and rehabilitation to longer periods of with many lost working days and increased future injury risk. • Evidence based lower extremity injury reduction measures and return-to-work protocols may be of use in this population. Work hardening should include specific tasks (like arresting an offender) and progress to functionality over a full shift length.References1. Achterstraat, P. (2008). Managing Injured Police: NSW Police Force. Auditor-General. Sydney.2. Andersen, K. A., et al. (2016). "Musculoskeletal Lower Limb Injury Risk in Army Populations." Sports Medicine - Open 2: 22.3. Bonneau, J. and J. Brown (1995). "Physical ability, fitness and police work." Journal of Clinical Forensic Medicine 2(3): 157-164.4. Davidson, P. L., et al. (2008). "Lower limb injuries in New Zealand Defence Force personnel: descriptive epidemiology." Autralian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 32(2): 167-173.5. Dempsey, P. C., et al. (2014). "Body armour: the effect of load, exercise and distraction on landing forces." Journal Of Sports Sciences 32(4): 301-306.References6. Holloway-Beth, A., et al. (2016). "Occupational Injury Surveillance Among Law Enforcement Officers Using Workers' Compensation Data, Illinois 1980 to 2008." Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 58(6): 594-600.7. Pryor, R. R., et al. (2012). "Fitness characteristics of a suburban special weapons and tactics team." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 26(3): 752-757.8. Ramstrand, N., et al. (2016). "Evaluation of load carriage systems used by active duty police officers: relative effects on walking patterns and perceived comfort." Applied ergonomics 53: 36-43.9. Sullivan, C. S. B. and K. T. Shimizu (1988). "Epidemiological studies of work-related injuries among law enforcement personnel." Journal of the Society of Occupational Medicine 38(1-2): 33-40.10. Taylor, N. A. S., et al. (2015). "A Retrospective Evaluation of Injuries to Australian Urban Firefighters(2003 to 2012): Injury Types, Locations, and Causal Mechanisms." Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 57(7): 757-764.

Police Injuries in Profile

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