Number (n) and percent (%) of parachuting related* traumatic injuries requiring hospitalization† with unadjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) among US Army Airborne School trainees, by parachute ankle brace protocol, 1985–2002
| Injury type | Pre-brace protocol‡ (n = 126 603) | Brace protocol‡ (n = 68 140) | Post-brace protocol‡ (n = 28 429) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | % | OR | 95% CI | n | % | OR | n | % | OR | 95% CI | |
| *Parachuting cause of injury code. | |||||||||||
| †Hospitalization occurring during a five week period from the start of jump week through the 4th week following airborne training. | |||||||||||
| ‡Jump week training dates were as follows: pre-brace (01/01/85–30/09/93), brace protocol (01/01/94–30/09/00), post-brace (01/10/00–31/12/02). | |||||||||||
| §Ankle injury hospitalization with ankle procedure. | |||||||||||
| ¶Referent group. | |||||||||||
| Ankle injury | 423 | 0.33 | 2.21 | 1.79–2.75 | 103 | 0.15 | 1.00¶ | 71 | 0.25 | 1.65 | 1.22–2.24 |
| Severe ankle injury§ | 342 | 0.27 | 1.92 | 1.53–2.41 | 96 | 0.14 | 1.00¶ | 68 | 0.24 | 1.70 | 1.25–2.32 |
| Musculoskeletal injury | 136 | 0.11 | 1.63 | 1.16–2.28 | 45 | 0.07 | 1.00¶ | 17 | 0.06 | 0.91 | 0.52–1.58 |
| Any traumatic (non-ankle) injury | 265 | 0.21 | 1.72 | 1.34–2.20 | 83 | 0.12 | 1.00¶ | 32 | 0.11 | 0.92 | 0.61–1.39 |
| Injury to multiple body parts | 48 | 0.04 | 2.15 | 1.14–4.05 | 12 | 0.02 | 1.00¶ | 9 | 0.03 | 1.80 | 0.76–4.27 |