The Frequency of Knee-Joint Injuries Caused by Sports Activities Among the Armed Forces Personnel

Abstract

Background: Doing hard physical exercises help empowering military forces to carry out their duties and missions. However, blindly following this aim may cause physical damages which lead to their temporary or permanent disability. Objectives: The current study aimed to investigate the prevalence of knee injuries resulting from sports activities among the armed forces personnel in 2010. Methods: It was a descriptive and retrospective study. All the armed forces personnel (n = 4203) covered by Kosar insurance in 2010 participated in the study. Data were analyzed using Excel and SPSS version 18 at the significant level of P ≤ 0.05. Results: The most frequent injuries were observed in the lower limbs (73% )and ankles (38.7%), respectively. The third most common injury was observed in knees (13.4%). Among the knee injuries, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) (77.82%) and meniscus (63.8%) were most prevalent. Also, posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) (6.6%) and medial collateral ligament (3.8%), the lateral collateral ligament (2.3%) and other injuries, including chondromalacia, osteoarthritis, etc. were reported. Conclusions: The prevalence of injuries in lower limbs is more frequent than other limbs. Ligament injury is high among the armed forces personnel. Among the ligament injuries, the most frequently observed case was anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Most knee injuries in this research were observed in the dominant leg and the muscle injuries in the dominant leg can be reduced through appropriate strength training program and muscle balancing to opposemuscles.