Abstract
The purpose of this manuscript is to present a model of military overtraining and subsequent injury, discharge, and disability. Military training and combat operations are physically and physiologically demanding, placing great strain on the musculoskeletal system of warfighters. Non-battle musculoskeletal injuries (MSKI) are common and present a serious threat to operational readiness in today’s military. MSKI risk stratification and prevention are an active area of research and is steeped in the background of sports science. Here, a model is proposed that incorporates the theory of General Adaptation Syndrome to describe how military training stressors may exceed that of training in traditional athletics and may induce sub-optimal training stressors. Positive feedback loops are discussed to explain how military overtraining (MOT) creates a system of ever-increasing stressors that can only be fully understood in the greater context of all environmental factors leading to overtraining. The Military Overtraining Hypothesis (MOTH) is proposed as a model that encapsulates the elevated MSKI risk in combat arms and other operational military personnel as an effort to broaden understanding of multifactorial military MSKI etiologies and as a tool for researchers and commanders to contextualize MSKI research and risk mitigation interventions.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 2289-2299 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Physiotherapy Theory and Practice |
Volume | 39 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Keywords
- Military
- general adaptation syndrome
- injury
- musculoskeletal
- nutrition
- overtraining
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation