Asian Journal of Orthopaedic Research

Background: The third most common injury in military patients was observed in knees with ligament and meniscus injury were most prevalent. However, it has not been studied closely. Sports and physical training activities are an area in which a substantial number of injuries can occur. Any physical injury occurred among the military forces can lead to their temporary or permanent disability. Therefore, purpose of this study was to know the incidence of knee injury in a Battalion of Indonesian Military Army.

Methods:  This was a cross sectional study conducted in Battalion 403/WP of Special Region of Yogyakarta and Sardjito General Hospital. The samples were active duty Army personnel with knee injury. After we performed history taking, physical examination, and MRI, we diagnosed the type of knee injury. Then we evaluated the demographic data, BMI, and Modified Cincinnati score to evaluate the daily functional score. The parameters were statistically analyzed.           

Results: The study showed from 589 active duty Army personnel there were 25 (4.24%) was suffered from knee injury with 12 of them (2.03%) sustained ligament rupture. Eight of the injury was caused by Non-Duty activities (66.67%). Nine was ACL rupture, 2 PCL rupture and 1 meniscus tear. Average BMI was 24.08 kg/m² . Most of the patient has fair daily functional score with average of Modified Cincinnati Score was 52.83, we also compare between army and non-army patient, we found that army patients with knee injury has significantly better daily functional score than non-army patients (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: The incidence of knee ligament injury in a Battalion of Indonesian Military Army was 2.03 percent and having significantly better daily functional score compared with non-army patient.