Skip to main content

Military Health System

Why Today’s ‘Gen Z’ is at Risk for Boot Camp Injuries

Image of Military personnel during boot camp. Military personnel during boot camp

Recommended Content:

Total Force Fitness | Physical Fitness | Nutritional Fitness | Readiness Capabilities | Injury Prevention

Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of articles about recruit and trainee training, and how the Military Health System supports the military services in maintaining optimal health as these young men and women go through basic training and recruit training and enter the military.

For today's generation of 18-to-25-year-olds, making it through recruit training and successfully transitioning from civilian life into the military is not easy.

Today's recruits are coming from a far more sedentary lifestyle compared to previous generations, making their skeletons more prone to injuries because they're not used to the kind of intense activity they will face at basic training.

A few weeks of deliberate fitness preparation before shipping out to boot camp or basic training can greatly increase an incoming recruit's chances of success by avoiding the most common injuries that can delay or derail a recruit's completion of initial military training.

"We see injuries ranging from acute fractures and falls, to tears in the ACL, to muscle strains and stress fractures, with the overwhelming majority of injuries related to overuse," said Army Capt. Lydia Blondin, assistant chief of physical therapy at the General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital at Fort Leonard Wood.

These occur mostly in the lower extremities, she said. Statistically, females tend to have higher incidence of injury than their male counterparts, she added.

What can recruits do before getting to training?

To prepare for basic training, new recruits should "get off the couch," said Army Maj. Jon-Marc Thibodeau, a clinical coordinator and chief of the medical readiness service line at Fort Leonard Wood. Preparation can include:

  • Start a training program with weight bearing exercises like running, walking, and some weight training.
  • Consider a "Couch-to-5K" running progression program online or something similar to help slowly build into the rigors of basic training, especially if you've never played sports in high school, or if you're older and haven't been super active for a few years, since that makes you significantly more likely to sustain an injury at training.
  • Talk to your recruiter about any train-up opportunities.
  • Make sure you get in that sunshine and drink some milk regularly - Blondin said they commonly see low calcium and vitamin D levels, specifically with bone stress injuries
  • Watching your diet: In general, diet is a huge factor in bone and muscle heath and can significantly affect injury risk and recovery.

For more information to prepare for basic the training, check out this blog from the Human Performance Resources by CHAMP -- the Consortium for Health and Military Performance at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, in Bethesda, Maryland.

This article has been modified from its original version.

 

 

You also may be interested in...

Lifestyle Changes Could Add 10-15 Years to Your Life

Article
11/8/2022
A female Navy physical therapist works with a senior citizen lying on a table holding a ball.

You're never too old to start being more physically active and eating healthier, which can add years to your life.

Recommended Content:

Preventive Health | Total Force Fitness

Exoskeleton to Enhance Safety, Retention for Aerial Porters, Others

Article Around MHS
10/26/2022
Military personnel pushes exoskeleton robotic fitness machine

The Air Force Research Laboratory’s Center for Rapid Innovation, or CRI, held an event Oct. 6 with the U.S. Air Force Reserve Commander’s 445th Airlift Wing for a robotics team to demonstrate the latest Forge System, a pneumatically powered exoskeleton that augments leg strength to reduce fatigue, increase endurance, and offset weight.

Recommended Content:

Physical Fitness | Research & Innovation

Injury Prevention Month C

Infographic
10/25/2022

Vision and hearing are senses that can be vital to mission success. Keep your eyes and ears safe by following these injury prevention tips. www.health.mil/InjuryPrevention #InjuryPreventionMonth

Recommended Content:

December | Injury Prevention

Injury Prevention Month A

Infographic
10/25/2022

Vision and hearing are senses that can be vital to mission success. Keep your eyes and ears safe by following these injury prevention tips. www.health.mil/InjuryPrevention #InjuryPreventionMonth

Recommended Content:

December | Injury Prevention

Injury Prevention Month B

Infographic
10/25/2022

Vision and hearing are senses that can be vital to mission success. Keep your eyes and ears safe by following these injury prevention tips. www.health.mil/InjuryPrevention #InjuryPreventionMonth

Recommended Content:

December | Injury Prevention

Tactical Medical Augmentation Team Increases Combat Medical Capability

Article Around MHS
10/24/2022
TacticalMedical-725

To find a solution to an identified gap in medical care provided in combat situations, the U.S. Air Force 920th Rescue Wing’s Aeromedical Staging Squadron developed the Tactical Medical Augmentation Team, an embedded medical team that will bring a new level of patient care directly to the battlefield.

Recommended Content:

Health Readiness & Combat Support | Readiness Capabilities

What Does Vitamin B Do for Me? Much More than You Think

Article
10/17/2022
A colorful board of foods with vitamin B including grains, vegetables,, and meats.

Why all eight of the B vitamins are essential to your health.

Recommended Content:

Nutritional Fitness

Out for a Bike Ride? Remember These Safety Tips

Article
10/11/2022
A safety officer overlooks bike riders on a street

Bike riding is a popular form of transportation, physical activity, and fun, but doing it safely is key.

Recommended Content:

Physical Fitness | Summer Safety | Winter Safety

Getting Back to the Fight

Article Around MHS
10/6/2022
Military personnel working out

Training for America’s next battles will always involve risk. Creating an environment that simulates the many elements of warfare is an ever-changing obstacle, but the Marine Corps has always adapted to these obstacles.

Recommended Content:

Physical Fitness | Injury Prevention

Army Builds Tool to Save Lives at High Altitude

Article Around MHS
9/30/2022
Military researchers in the mountains of New Mexico

Mountain climbing is risky business. When unacclimatized individuals rapidly ascend to altitudes greater than 8,000 feet, they put themselves at risk for suffering from high-altitude illnesses. The addition of hard physical exercise, typical of a military mission, increases this level of risk. Detecting these illnesses prior to occurrence has the potential to save lives.

Recommended Content:

Research & Innovation | Physical Fitness

H2F Making a Difference, Tackling the Whole Approach to Care

Article Around MHS
9/15/2022
Military personnel with H2F emblem

Suicide Prevention Month officially kicked off with a suicide survivor panel at the Fort Bragg Soldier and Family Readiness Group Center

Recommended Content:

Mental Health: Seeking Care with TRICARE | Suicide Prevention | Nutritional Fitness | Suicide Prevention | Spiritual Fitness | Sleep | Mental Health is Health Care

Mental Health Office Helps AUAB Members Maintain Readiness

Article Around MHS
8/30/2022
Air Force Tech. Sgt. Melissa Leonardo smiles for photo

Comprehensive Airman Fitness is comprised of physical, social, spiritual and mental fitness. Being physically fit to fight and maintaining a war fighter spirit are crucial to completing the mission.

Recommended Content:

Health Readiness & Combat Support | Spiritual Fitness | Nutritional Fitness | Depression | Posttraumatic Stress Disorder | Anxiety | Stress | Mental Health: Seeking Care with TRICARE | Mental Health is Health Care

Battalion Hosts Critical Medical Training

Article Around MHS
8/24/2022
Military personnel in combat training exercise

Allied Forces North Battalion conducted a week-long Combat Lifesaver Course July 25-29.

Recommended Content:

Total Force Fitness | Education & Training | Building Partner Capacity and Interoperability | Global Health Security Agenda

Avoid summertime food poisoning with these easy tips

Article
8/12/2022
Someone cooking on a grill

Food safety in the summer is just as important as sunscreen

Recommended Content:

Nutritional Fitness | Summer Safety | Summer Safety

Yoga Shield: Building Mental and Physical Resiliency

Article
8/9/2022
Airman teaches yoga to a variety of Airmen in Springfield, Ohio, so they learn mental and physical resiliency.

Airman teaches yoga to decrease stress, enhance resiliency

Recommended Content:

Physical Fitness
<< < 1 2 3 4 5  ... > >> 
Showing results 16 - 30 Page 2 of 14
Refine your search
Last Updated: January 31, 2023
Follow us on Instagram Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on YouTube Sign up on GovDelivery