I have just recently returned from a five-month tour in East Timor as a part of the AUSBATT VI/VII Rotation.

When the UN MIL Hospital closed in August 2002, the physiotherapy department was relocated to the Moleana FOB as part of the Health Supplementation Team.

In the five months I spent in East Timor I treated 120 members with 140 injuries.

The most common complaints that presented were neck and back pain (32 per cent), lower limb injuries (40 per cent) and shoulder pain (7 per cent).

The most common lower limb injuries included knee pain, shin pain, ankle sprains and plantar fasciitis.

The common causes of those injuries included:

The main reason, however, for patients presenting for physio treatment was a drastic increase in the amount of exercise a day – especially weights work.

To prevent some of these injuries occurring I have some physiotherapy tips for members deploying:

Do not take your oldest running shoes or footwear with you.

Even though most people throw their runners away before returning home, poor runners were one of the biggest causes of pain in the lower limb.

This was seen especially in members with pain in their shins and Achilles tendons.
On deployment we often do not have the luxury of having a PTI.

PT is an individual responsibility or falls in the hands of sub-unit PTIs or SNCOs.

See your friendly PTI to get a program designed to suit you before deploying.

A large number of the injuries I saw were from members lifting weights that were too heavy for them or doing a program that was designed for one of their mates.

Vary your PT sessions so that you are not running and/or doing weights every day.

You need to break up your PT sessions and have a rest day.

Believe it or not your body does need time to recover from the insult of exercise.

Make sure that you warm up properly as this helps your body prepare for exercise.
You also need to ensure that you cool down AND stretch after exercise.

This will prevent post-exercise soreness and tight muscles that could lead to an injury in future sessions.

If you do get injured, make sure you see your medical section staff immediately.

In Timor some members presented four to six weeks after their injury.

Treatment time is reduced the earlier you present for treatment.

The number of days that you may be on restrictions is also drastically reduced the earlier you present.

For any information on preparing yourself physically or how to prevent injuries occurring while on deployment see a PTI or contact me on genevieve.liebich@ defence.gov.au.

If there is a topic relating to a specific injury or treatment of injuries that you would like more information on please let me know.