Profiling injuries sustained following implementation of a progressive load carriage program in United States marine corps recruit training.

This article focuses on comparing musculoskeletal injuries sustained by male United States Marine Corps (USMC) recruits following participation in either the Original Load Carriage (OLC) program or a Modified Load Carriage (MLC) program. The retrospective analysis found that the MLC program, which incorporated a progressive and periodized load carriage conditioning schedule with increased frequency of hikes, resulted in a 30% lower injury prevalence and relative risk compared to the OLC program, despite greater exposure to load carriage activities. Both programs showed the knee, lower leg, ankle, and foot as the most common injury sites, with sprains and strains being the leading injury types; however, stress fractures were notably reduced in the MLC cohort. While the MLC group exhibited a higher proportion of severe injuries, limitations in injury severity data and missing information complicate direct comparisons. The study suggests that progressive load carriage conditioning may effectively reduce overall injury rates in military recruit training, though further research including diverse cohorts is recommended.