RSU Doctoral Student Carries out International Study on the Effect of Military Footwear on Injury Rates

Darja Ņesteroviča is a technical orthopaedist, a doctoral student at Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) and a researcher at the RSU Military Medicine Research and Study Centre. Ņesteroviča is currently working on her doctoral thesis about how the habits of wearing military boots and the anatomical peculiarities of feet may place undue burden on soldiers' feet and affect the frequency of injuries. She is also researching what soldiers' optimal physical load should be and which parameters should be taken into consideration when procuring footwear for the Latvian National Armed Forces (NAF).

Darja Ņesteroviča has been nominated for the 2019 Defence Industry Annual Awards for Education and Research due to the urgency of the problem and the fact that these issues are being studied for the first time in Latvia.

The objective of Ņesteroviča's doctoral thesis “Biometrical Aspects of the Use of Military Boots in Association with Overuse Injuries of the Lower Extremities” is to study the frequency of injuries caused by extra burden being placed on feet among NAF soldiers. In her thesis, she also attempts to identify the connection between injuries and habits of how military boots are worn and various anatomical peculiarities, as well as to develop guidelines for screening soldiers’ feet and what modifications need to be made to military boots depending on foot type.

'Musculoskeletal injuries are the main cause of medical disability in the military during peacetime. Working on analysis and prevention is therefore important to the medical services of the armed forces of all NATO member states,' the doctoral student emphasises.

'This is the first time research like this, that studies the effect of military boots on musculoskeletal injury rates, has been conducted in Latvia. I believe that this study will create the right prerequisites for a discussion about soldiers' physical burden and various strategies for procuring military footwear for the NAF.'

Ņesteroviča's doctoral thesis is being written as part of the international research project NATO STO (Science and Technology Organization) RTG HFM-283 Reducing Musculoskeletal Injuries. The project is scheduled for completion this year.

Researchers from the USA, Belgium, Canada, Latvia, the UK, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain and Germany are collaborating on a unified analysis of occurrence rates, risk factors and the effectiveness of various preventive measures for these types of injuries. This is the first time research like this is taking place among NATO member states.

The Latvian data is based on calculations carried out by Ņesteroviča concerning musculoskeletal injury rates in land forces in 2016 and 2017 and from a survey of 160 soldiers. The researcher began supplementing the data and making a detailed analysis of biomechanical factors affecting gait in 2019 in collaboration with the Rehabilitation Research Laboratory at the RSU Department of Rehabilitation.