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The ability of fitness testing to predict injury risk during initial tactical training: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Regardless of their role within an organization, all tactical personnel require sufficient physical fitness to be able to complete daily occupational tasks safely and effectively. One challenge faced by tactical training institutions lies in the use of physical training to increase fitness, especially in less fit trainees, when physical training itself is known to contribute to injury risk. Therefore, the aims of this review were to identify studies that have investigated associations between fitness measures and injuries, critically appraise the quality of these studies, and synthesize key findings to inform tactical organizations. Twenty-seven studies were ultimately included. Mean Critical Appraisal Skills Programme score was 10.6/12 (9-12) for cohort studies and 9.5/10 (9-10) for case-control studies. A meta-analysis was performed on publications studying a timed, fixed-distance run, reporting hazard or risk ratios categorically and the number of injuries in each group. The combined risk ratio was determined to be 2.34 (95% CI 2.02-2.70). This indicates a significant increase in risk of injury during training for personnel who performed in the slowest quartile or quintile when compared to peers in the fastest quartile or quintile, which follows given this high volume of distance weight bearing activity required by tactical personnel. Muscular endurance tests, such as pushups, sit-ups and pull-ups were less conclusive in their predictive abilities. Functional strength tests were effective predictors, but only four studies reported on a measure of strength, and only two were functional measures, indicating a need for further study in this area.
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The validity of self-reported measures of height, body mass and BMI in a population of police officers
Abstract: Height and body mass data is often self-reported by study participants. However, the accuracy of self-reported height and body mass data compared to these same measures collected by researchers is unknown. The purpose of this study was to compare the accuracy of self-reported height and body mass data to measured values within the US law enforcement population, and the impact these estimations have on the accuracy of BMI classifications. METHODS: Self-reported and measured height and body mass data for thirty-three (n = 33) male law enforcement officers (age: 40.48 ± 6.66 yrs; measured height: 180.42 ± 6.87 cm; measured body mass: 100.82 ± 19.86 kg) were utilized for this analysis. RESULTS: Paired samples t-tests revealed no significant differences in estimated and measured height (p=.830), body mass (p = .527) or BMI (p = .623). CONCLUSION: Self-reported height and body mass was accurate for calculating BMI within this population sample. Keywords: anthropometrics; health assessment; police; obesity.
Full text here: file:///C:/Users/rorr/Work%20Folders/Downloads/21191-112327-1-PB%20(1).pdf
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Tracking Training Load and Its Implementation in Tactical Populations: A Narrative Review
ABSTRACT: Tactical populations often participate in demanding physical training and perform strenuous workplace tasks, increasing injury risk. Mitigating injury risk is vital for maintaining trained personnel and should be a focus for tactical populations. One such method, tracking training load, has not been studied in-depth in tactical populations, despite documented effectiveness in elite sport. Most injuries to tactical personnel are overuse in nature and therefore may be prevented by optimizing training load. Although the methods used in elite sport may not be directly transferable to tactical environments, they may be used to inform injury mitigation strategies in tactical populations
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The Effects of Body Armour on the Power Development and Agility of Police Officers
Abstract
A study was conducted in which 11 police officers wore one of three different types of Individual Light Armour Vests (ILAV), or normal station wear, for an entire day while completing power and agility-based tasks including a vertical jump (VJ), agility test, 20m sprint and counter movement jump (CMJ). Despite all three ILAVs being significantly (p<.05) heavier than normal station wear, there were no significant differences between any of the ILAVs in VJ, time to complete the agility test, 20 m sprint time, peak force, velocity, power and jump distance in the CMJ. There was a significantly (p<.05) higher mean force produced in the CMJ while wearing all three ILAVs. The ILAV’s investigated do not appear to be heavy enough to significantly affect the power or agility of police officers. The utilization of ILAVs by police officers does not appear to hinder policing tasks that involve agility or power development.
Practitioner Summary
The addition of the extra load of military styled body armour is known to decrease performance and mobility. When compared to normal station wear, the wearing of three different ILAV types used in policing don’t appear to be heavy enough to affect the power or agility of police officers.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00140139.2019.1648878