Abstract
BackgroundIn the conduct of their daily duties, law enforcement officers (LEO) are often required to perform dynamic, physically demanding tasks with little or no notice, sometimes at maximal levels of exertion. Given these requirements, training for prospective LEOs must be rigorous enough to ensure that when trainees graduate, they are competent in their response to crisis and resilient enough to maintain this for the span of their career. Therefore, based on previously reported effectiveness of fitness testing in predicting injury risk in predominantly military settings, the aim of this study was to investigate relationships between a physical ability test (PAT) and risk of injury during police recruit training.MethodsRetrospective PAT results and trainee injury records were obtained from a national police department and Mann-Whitney U tests were performed to investigate fitness differences between trainees who were, or were not, injured. Significant results were tested for effect size using Cliff’s delta (CD).ResultsSignificant differences in mean performance between groups existed for the following PAT components: pushups (injured mean 32.94 ± 8.66 reps, uninjured mean 35.67 ± 9.04 reps, p = 0.01 CD + 0.11) and right-hand grip strength (injured mean 49.61 ± 12.51 kg, uninjured mean 52.12 ± 11.17 kg, p = 0.042 CD + 0.22) for all injuries; vertical jump height (injured mean 51.75 ± 7.54 cm, uninjured mean 55.06 ± 8.19 cm, p = 0.032 CD + 0.41) for lower limb injuries, and all measures of grip strength for trunk injury.ConclusionsThe results of this study suggest that a significant relationship between some PAT fitness components and injury risk exists during police recruit training.
Highlights
In the conduct of their daily duties, law enforcement officers (LEO) are often required to perform dynamic, physically demanding tasks with little or no notice, sometimes at maximal levels of exertion
Based on the crucial need for law enforcement agency (LEA) to retain personnel recruited for training, and the previously reported utility of fitness testing for predicting risk of injury in a given environment, the aim of this study was to investigate relationships between components of a physical ability test (PAT) and risk of injury during police recruit training in a cohort of New Zealand (NZ) Police trainees
Significant differences in performance between injured and uninjured groups existed for the following PAT components: pushups and righthand (R)) grip strength, for all injuries; vertical jump height for lower limb injuries; and all measures of grip strength for trunk injuries (Tables 1, 2 and 3)
Summary
In the conduct of their daily duties, law enforcement officers (LEO) are often required to perform dynamic, physically demanding tasks with little or no notice, sometimes at maximal levels of exertion Given these requirements, training for prospective LEOs must be rigorous enough to ensure that when trainees graduate, they are competent in their response to crisis and resilient enough to maintain this for the span of their career. In the conduct of their daily duties, law enforcement officers (LEO) are often required to perform dynamic, physically demanding tasks with little or no notice, sometimes at maximal levels of exertion [1]. It is not surprising that less fit trainees may be at a greater risk of injury than their fitter counterparts [7], who are themselves three to five times more likely to sustain an injury than their fully trained, operational counterparts [8]
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