The Compounding Injury:
How a Single Ankle Sprain Can End a Military Career
Service members experience lateral ankle sprains at five times the civilian rate. Most people don’t realize how often they come back and what happens when they do.
by Mark Roser
Lateral ankle sprain is the most common musculoskeletal injury in the military. It’s also one of the most consistently underestimated.
The injury sounds manageable. You’ve probably had one. You rolled it playing basketball, twisted it on a trail, stepped wrong off a curb. It hurt, you rested, you recovered. You moved on.
For civilians, this trajectory is usually accurate. For Service Members, it frequently isn’t and the difference has significant consequences for individuals, units, and long-term force readiness.
WHEN A SPRAIN DOESN’T STAY A SPRAIN
What makes ankle sprains dangerous for Service Members is not the initial injury. It’s what follows.
Research shows that within 12 months of a lateral ankle sprain, the re-sprain rate exceeds …
The rest of this article is coming soon. Stay tuned.


