US troops 'vulnerable to back pain'

A study reported in the Lancet has found that US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely to be withdrawn from the battlefield due to back or joint pain than combat injuries. The study, looked at the injuries suffered by 34,000 US military personel in Iraq and Afghanistan. Back, joint and muscle pain were the leading medical problems suffered by soldiers, accounting for almost one-quarter of all injuries. The study is prompting the US Department of Defence to look at the weight of equipment that soldiers are routinely required to carry, and the length of their tours of duty. Source: BBC, 22 January 2010. tinyurl.com/yl3flpb

Safety issues cause one-third of deaths in Britain’s military

Ministry of Defence figures obtained by The Independent on Sunday reportedly reveal that nearly 800 service personnel have been killed over 10 years in accidents ranging from car crashes to electric shocks. According to IoS, MoD figures reveal that 201 members of the armed forces died in 2007. Eighty of these deaths were caused by accidents, 50 of them in land transport accidents. The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 removes the MoD’s Crown immunity in health and safety matters, leaving senior defence officials open to the same risk of prosecution as employers in the private and public sectors. Source: Independent, 22 Feb 2009. http://tinyurl.com/c8hygw

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