Citation

Lentz L, Voaklander D, Gross DP, Guptill CA, Senthilselvan A. Int. J. Occup. Med. Environ. Health 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada (School of Public Health).

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Lodz and the Polish Association of Occupational Medicine, Publisher Walter de Gruyter)

DOI

10.13075/ijomeh.1896.01454

PMID

31691680

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Police officers run a risk of injury that is higher than in most other occupations. This study aims to quantify injury prevalence and identify common musculoskeletal injuries (MSIs) among police officers, using injury data from a municipal police service in Alberta, Canada. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This is a descriptive study based on a secondary data analysis of the MSIs reported to the police service over a 41-month period; January 1, 2013 - June 2, 2016. Data from 1325 active police officers were examined, and injury prevalence was reported according to sex, injury diagnosis, the body part injured, and the work area.

RESULTS: The prevalence of strains and sprains was very high, at 89.2%. The back and shoulder were most frequently affected. Overall, injury proportions did not differ significantly across work areas. The injury risk was age-related but no significant differences in injuries between sexes were identified.

CONCLUSIONS: Minor injuries such as strains and sprains occur frequently in the police occupation. Future research should focus on specific risk factors for MSIs in police officers in order to aid prevention.

This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.

Language: en

Keywords

injury; musculoskeletal; occupation; police; prevalence; sprains and strains