Lessons Learned From the Creating Active Communities and Healthy Environments Toolkit Pilot: A Qualitative Study.

The US Army Public Health Center developed the Creating Active Communities and Healthy Environments (CACHE) Toolkit to help military installations evaluate the quality of their built environments relative to healthy eating, physical activity, and tobacco-free living. This study sought to improve its implementation process and assess subsequent Action Plan Guides' utility at 5 military installations. Baseline data included a knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs survey (N = 34); post-Toolkit implementation data included focus groups (N = 2) and interviews (N = 10).

Restricting Retail Hours of Alcohol Sales within an Army Community.

Introduction: Excessive alcohol consumption continues to be a significant concern to overall military readiness; each year, it results in non-deployable active duty service members and service members separated from service. In 2009, The Community Preventive Services Task Force recommended limiting the hours of alcohol sales as an evidence-based and effective intervention to reduce alcohol-related harms. In June 2014, partnerships at an Army Installation in the Midwestern United States implemented a policy to reduce excessive alcohol consumption and associated alcohol-related harms.

Marching on the Road to Quality: Army Public Health Experience Adopting NACCHO's Roadmap to a Culture of Quality Framework.

The US Army Public Health Center (APHC) adopted the National Association of County and City Health Officials' (NACCHO) Roadmap to a Culture of Quality (CoQ) Improvement framework to define its current culture and adapted the NACCHO's Organizational CoQ Self-Assessment Tool for applicability to a federal agency and workforce. More than 500 Civilian and Military personnel completed the self-assessment in October 2017. The results indicated that the APHC was categorized in the third of six total phases of the NACCHO's Roadmap to a CoQ (Phase 3: Informal or Ad Hoc QI Activities), which generated 13 transitional strategies to advance the APHC toward a CoQ.

A multiple intervention strategy for reducing femoral neck stress injuries and other serious overuse injuries in U.S. Army Basic Combat Training.

We hypothesized that the use of evidence based injury prevention strategies would lead to a reduction in the incidence of femoral neck stress injuries (FNSIs) and other serious overuse injuries in U.S. Army Basic Combat Training (BCT).

Musculoskeletal injuries description of an under-recognized injury problem among military personnel.

Introduction: Although injuries are recognized as a leading health problem in the military, the size of the problem is underestimated when only acute traumatic injuries are considered. Injury-related musculoskeletal conditions are common in this young, active population. Many of these involve physical damage caused by micro-trauma (overuse) in recreation, sports, training, and job performance.

Effect on injuries of assigning shoes based on foot shape in air force basic training.

Background: This study examined whether assigning running shoes based on the shape of the bottom of the foot (plantar surface) influenced injury risk in Air Force Basic Military Training (BMT) and examined risk factors for injury in BMT.

Methods: Data were collected from BMT recruits during 2007; analysis took place during 2008. After foot examinations, recruits were randomly consigned to either an experimental group (E, n=1042 men, 375 women) or a control group (C, n=913 men, 346 women).

A process to identify military injury prevention priorities based on injury type and limited duty days.

Background: Injuries, one of the leading public health problems in an otherwise healthy military population, affect operational readiness, increase healthcare costs, and result in disabilities and fatalities. This paper describes a systematic, data-driven, injury prevention-decision making process to rank potential injury prevention targets.

Methods: Medical surveillance and safety report data on injuries for 2004 were reviewed.

Prevention of physical training-related injuries recommendations for the military and other active populations based on expedited systematic reviews.

Background: The Military Training Task Force of the Defense Safety Oversight Council chartered a Joint Services Physical Training Injury Prevention Working Group to: (1) establish the evidence base for making recommendations to prevent injuries; (2) prioritize the recommendations for prevention programs and policies; and (3) substantiate the need for further research and evaluation on interventions and programs likely to reduce physical training-related injuries.

Evidence Acquisition: A work group was formed to identify, evaluate, and assess the level of scientific evidence for various physical training-related injury prevention strategies through an expedited systematic review process. Of 40 physical training-related injury prevention strategies identified, education, leader support, and surveillance were determined to be essential elements of a successful injury prevention program and not independent interventions.

Injury reduction effectiveness of selecting running shoes based on plantar shape.

Popular running magazines and running shoe companies suggest that imprints of the bottom of the feet (plantar shape) can be used as an indication of the height of the medial longitudinal foot arch and that this can be used to select individually appropriate types of running shoes. This study examined whether or not this selection technique influenced injury risk during United States Army Basic Combat Training (BCT). After foot examinations, BCT recruits in an experimental group (E: n = 1,079 men and 451 women) selected motion control, stability, or cushioned shoes for plantar shapes judged to represent low, medium, or high foot arches, respectively.

Injury rates and injury risk factors among U.S. Army wheel vehicle mechanics.

This study describes injury rates, injury diagnoses, anatomical locations of injuries, limited duty days, and activities associated with injuries in a sample of Army mechanics. Medical records of 518 male and 43 female Army mechanics were screened for injuries during 1 year at a large U.S.