Physical and psychological factors related to injury, illness and tactical performance in law enforcement recruits: A systematic review
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Injury Prevention
Publisher
BMJ Publishing Group
School
Nutrition and Health Innovation Research Institute / School of Medical and Health Sciences / Exercise Medicine Research Institute
Funders
Western Australia Department of Health (G1006605) / Western Australia Police Force (G1006650) / Defence Science Centre of Western Australia (G1006527)
Abstract
Objective: There are inconsistent reports of factors relating to injury, illness and tactical performance in law enforcement recruits. Our objectives were to: (1) report physical and psychological risk factors and protective factors for injury and illness and (2) report physical and psychological risk factors and protective factors for tactical performance success. Design: Systematic epidemiological review. Methods: Searches of six databases were conducted on 13 December 2022. We included cohorts that assessed physical and psychological factors for injury, illness and tactical performance success. Study quality was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Quality Assessment Checklist for Prevalence Studies and certainty assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation. Results: 30 studies were included, and quality assessment was performed. Very low certainty of evidence exists for physical variables related to injury risk, and we found no studies that investigated psychological variables as a risk factor for injury. Low-certainty evidence found older age, poorer performance with push-up reps to failure, poorer arm ergometer revolutions, poorer beep test, poorer 75-yard pursuit and the 1.5 miles run tests to be associated with reduced tactical performance. Very low certainty of evidence exists that the psychological variables of intelligence and anger are associated with tactical performance. Conclusions: We identified a lack of high-level evidence for factors associated with injury, illness and performance. Interventions based on this research will be suboptimal. We suggest context-specific factors related to injury, illness and performance in law enforcement populations are used to inform current practice while further, high-quality research into risk factors is performed.
DOI
10.1136/ip-2023-045150
Access Rights
subscription content
Comments
Murphy, M., Merrick, N., Cowen, G., Sutton, V., Allen, G., Hart, N. H., & Mosler, A. B. (2024). Physical and psychological factors related to injury, illness and tactical performance in law enforcement recruits: A systematic review. Injury Prevention. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1136/ip-2023-045150