The Impact of a Unique Sports Medicine Model on Readiness in the Army: A Prospective Cohort Analysis on the Duration of Healthcare Management and the Incidence of Re-Injury Within 24 Months

Training room clinical models have been in use in sport at all levels for generations. This approach employs rapid initial assessment and triage by highly trained MSI treatment and rehabilitation experts (e.g. Athletic Trainers, Physical Therapists, Orthopedic surgeons and Sports Medicine physicians). These skilled providers work in concert to mitigate the secondary effects of injury and return athletes to activities as quickly/safely as possible. Traditional sports medicine models revolve around quick access to multi-disciplinary care teams including allied health providers with unique expertise in sports nutrition, strength and conditioning, and sports psychology.

In the current standard of care, healthcare providers organize operationally to allow for more patients to be seen in a shorter period of time. This model allows a multidisciplinary team to treat patients simultaneously during designated clinic hours and consult with one another on diagnoses and treatment plans—this is highly efficient for both the patient and the organization. The Sports Medicine Model is equally focused on primary injury prevention, because primary prevention is the best way to keep athletes on the field and in the game.

In contrast, the military medicine model, outside of trained combat medics who provide pre-hospital battlefield trauma care and resuscitation at point of injury during field training and combat, provides traditional problem-based clinic visits for MSI of active duty service members. Providers outside of the primary MTFs who most typically are not specialized in MSI, evaluate patients and refer them to an appropriate consultant such as a physical therapist, radiology, sports medicine trained family physician, or orthopedic surgeon. Inherent time lags between providers often delays care, which is suboptimal when treating MSI. For active duty members, these delays may result in disbarment or failures from training schools, missed deployments, and decreases in medical readiness for deployable units.