Knee Injuries in the Military

Injuries to the knee are frequently encountered in the young athletic population. Specifically, anterior cruciate ligament, meniscus, and articular cartilage lesions comprise the majority of these injuries that, in turn, limit the high-demand athlete from continuing their peak performances. As these patients continue to perform at high levels or simply age, many athletes face early degenerative changes that result in increased knee pain or decreased peak performance. In general, the U.S. Military population should be considered as elite athletes, given that their occupational mission includes rigorous physical requirements often over a multiyear career. Multiple studies have demonstrated that this unique population has an incidence rate of knee injury up to 10 times that of the general population. Military orthopaedic surgeons face many challenges in treating this population due to the incidence and severity of these injuries along with the rising need to get U.S. service members back to full duty in a timely manner especially due to recent world conflicts. This issue of the Journal of Knee Surgery (JKS) focuses on common knee injuries found in the military population that includes injury to the anterior cruciate ligament, meniscus, and articular cartilage. There is also an article on primary and posttraumatic knee osteoarthritis in the military. We believe that the experience gained in treating U.S. service members can be directly applied to the general population with similar demographics.