Abstract des Autors

This study examined injury and physical fitness outcomes in Basic Combat Training (BCT) during implementation of Physical Readiness Training (PRT). PRT is the U.S. Army´s emerging physical fitness training program. An experimental group (EG, n=1284), which implemented the PRT program, was compared to a control group (CG, n=1296), which used a traditional BCT physical training program during the 9-week BCT cycle. Injury cases were obtained from recruit medical records and physical fitness was measured using the U.S. Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT, consisting of push-ups, sit-ups and a two-mile run). Injury rates were examined using Cox regression after controlled for initial group differences in demographics, fitness and other variables. Compared to the EG, the adjusted relative risk of a time-loss overuse injury in the CG was 1.5 (95 % confidence interval [CI]=1.0-2.1, p<0.01) for men and 1.4 (95 %CI=1.1-1.8, p<0.01) for women. There were no differences between groups for traumatic injuries. On the first administration of the final APFT, the EG had a greater proportion of recruits passing the test than the CG (men: 85 % vs. 81 %, p = 0.04; women: 80 % vs. 70 %, p<0.01). After all APFT retakes, the EG had significantly fewer APFT failures than the CG among the women (1.6 % vs. 4.6 %, p<0.01) but not the men (1.6 % vs. 2.8 %, p=0.18); the gender-combined EG had a higher pass rate (1.6 % vs. 3.7 %, p<0.01). Overall, the PRT program reduced overuse injuries and allowed a higher success rate on the APFT. Verf.-Referat