Examination of Ankle Trauma in United States Military Members: A Scoping Review

Military members, along with their injuries and expectations to return to duty, vary significantly from the general population. The purpose of this scoping review is to examine current literature pertaining to ankle injuries in United States military members and identify the research gaps. A scoping review was carried out with the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. A systematic search was utilized on three databases: PubMed, AMED, and Cochrane Library. The papers included were those of ankle injuries in the military. Exclusionary criteria included papers that did not have quantitative data, no full paper availability and non-US military. One hundred and fifty articles were screened, with nine meeting the inclusion criteria. Almost all of these were cohort by design. The focus was on a variety of tests for returning to active duty and the risks associated with individual factors for each service member. The study identified a lack of randomized control trials, underrepresentation of vulnerable subgroups within the US military, and no single test for ankle mobility and strength to return to duty. Prioritizing these deficiencies may help to save time and money within the US military healthcare system.