043 - Jump Performance After Injury: The Hidden Deficits in Tactical Athletes
For active-duty Air Force personnel, musculoskeletal injuries (MSKIs) aren’t just painful; they limit mission readiness and performance. Lower-body injuries specifically can sideline operators, but even after the official "return-to-duty," how recovered are they truly?
A recent study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research dives into exactly this issue, examining jump performance in Air Force members recovering from recent lower-body MSKIs.
WHAT THEY FOUND:
Researchers compared two groups:
Recently injured group (LDP): Personnel who'd been placed on limited duty due to recent lower-body injuries.
Healthy control group (No-LDP): Personnel with no recent lower-body issues.
Key outcomes from jump assessments (e.g., countermovement jumps, loaded jumps, drop jumps) revealed:
Reduced Performance: Injured personnel showed significantly lower jump heights and reactive strength, particularly in more demanding jumps like the Loaded Countermovement Jump and Drop Jump.
Increased Landing Forces: Those previously injured landed harder and stiffer, suggesting compromised landing mechanics and reduced eccentric control, critical factors linked to re-injury risk.
In short, while these individuals might be officially cleared to return, their performance metrics show they're not back to baseline yet, especially during higher intensity movements.
WHAT THIS MEANS:
These findings highlight an uncomfortable truth: traditional rehabilitation might not fully restore dynamic functional performance. Even subtle deficits in landing mechanics and power can predispose service members to further injury down the line.
Effective recovery from lower-body MSKI isn't just about returning to baseline strength—it's about rebuilding effective, controlled, and resilient movement patterns.
TACTICAL IMPLICATIONS
1. Rethink Rehab Protocols:
Integrate jump-based force-plate assessments regularly during recovery—not just basic strength or ROM checks.
2. Prioritize Landing Mechanics:
Training should specifically target eccentric strength and landing control, crucial for safe and effective duty performance.
3. Assess Under Load and Complexity:
Incorporate loaded jumps or drop jumps into later stages of rehabilitation, reflecting real-world tactical demands.
4. Individualized Return-To-Duty Criteria:
Return-to-duty decisions shouldn't just rely on absence of pain or time-based protocols; objective functional testing is key.
5. Prevent Re-injury by Monitoring:
Regularly reassess tactical personnel with a history of lower-body injuries even after return-to-duty to catch and correct lingering deficits.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
Are your current rehab and return-to-duty protocols sufficiently evaluating complex, real-world movements?
Do your assessments measure performance under realistic, tactical loads and conditions, or just simple baseline tasks?
Could force-plate jump assessments become a regular benchmark for readiness across your team or unit?
How much risk are you accepting by returning personnel based solely on time or subjective pain reduction rather than performance-based metrics?
What could your unit's injury rates look like if subtle movement deficits were addressed before they compounded into larger issues?
Merrigan JJ, Ray N, Barrett K, et al. Do Active-Duty Air Force Personnel With Recent Lower-Body Musculoskeletal Injury Profiles Have Reduced Jump Performances?. J Strength Cond Res. 2025;39(6):695-704. doi:10.1519/JSC.0000000000005091