Kollock Roger O, Hale Davis, Vogelpohl Rachele, Kremer Logan, Horner Josh, Cox Christian, Allen Matt
Department of Kinesiology and Rehabilitative Sciences, The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK, USA.
Department of Kinesiology and Health, Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, KY, USA.
Int J Exerc Sci. 2018 Jun 1;11(1):648-656. doi: 10.70252/GKGZ3954. eCollection 2018.
Body armor is essential to the protection of military personnel; however, body armor may impede the users balance and movement quality. A better understanding of the influence of body armor on balance and movement quality may help in the development of new guidelines for training standards and procedures to mitigate the risk of injury associated with wearing of body armor in warfighters. The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of body armor (combat boots, tactical vest and combat helmet) on balance and movement quality in male military cadets and personnel. Twelve male participants completed the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) and Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) under two separate conditions, body armor and non-body armor. Results indicated a significant difference in FMS composite score between the non-body armor and body armor conditions (p =.012), with the non-body armor condition resulting in significantly higher FMS scores than the body armor condition. Additionally, the FMS item score for shoulder mobility was significantly higher (2.25±0.62) in the non-body armor condition than the body armor condition (p= 0.03). The SEBT composite and the three individual reach distances were not significantly different between conditions. Based on the current findings, body armor within a 4.8 kg - 5.3 kg range does appear to impact movement quality as evaluated using the FMS in male military personnel and cadets. More research is needed to determine a threshold of compensatory movement patterns relative to an increase in body armor weight.
防弹衣对于保护军事人员至关重要；然而，防弹衣可能会妨碍使用者的平衡和运动质量。更好地了解防弹衣对平衡和运动质量的影响，可能有助于制定新的训练标准和程序指南，以降低作战人员穿着防弹衣时受伤的风险。本研究的目的是确定防弹衣（作战靴、战术背心和作战头盔）对男性军校学员和军事人员平衡和运动质量的影响。12名男性参与者在两种不同条件下完成了功能性动作筛查（FMS）和星形偏移平衡测试（SEBT），即穿着防弹衣和不穿防弹衣的情况。结果表明，不穿防弹衣和穿防弹衣两种情况下的FMS综合得分存在显著差异（p = 0.012），不穿防弹衣情况下的FMS得分显著高于穿防弹衣的情况。此外，不穿防弹衣情况下肩部活动度的FMS项目得分（2.25±0.62）显著高于穿防弹衣的情况（p = 0.03）。两种情况下SEBT综合得分和三个单独的伸展距离没有显著差异。基于目前的研究结果，4.8千克至5.3千克范围内的防弹衣似乎确实会影响男性军事人员和军校学员使用FMS评估的运动质量。需要更多的研究来确定相对于防弹衣重量增加的代偿运动模式阈值。
