A Biomechanical Analysis of British Army Foot-Drill: Implications of Lower-Extremity Musculoskeletal Injury in Age-matched Civilian Men and Women

British Army foot-drill may be a risk factor for musculoskeletal (MSK) injury. However, limited empirical research exists quantifying lower-extremity risk factors of foot-drill in men and women. To better understand and provide greater insight into the potential risk of injury of foot-drill, the aim of this thesis was to conduct a series of studies analysing measures of reliability on foot-drill vertical ground reaction force (vGRF) data (study 1), the effects of in-service footwear on magnitudes of loading across foot-drill (study 2), compare sex-specific kinetic/kinematic characteristics of foot-drill (study 3), and quantify predictors of injury risk following a bout of foot-drill training in age-matched civilian men and women. Study 1: A single familiarisation session and a total of eight-trials demonstrated accurate and stable measures of foot-drill performance for the vGRF variable (Intraclass correlation (ICC)>.075, coefficient of variation of the typical error (CVte%)