For everyone at their jobs, the number 1 goal is to come home safe. Each profession has different areas that can make it either safe or unsafe. Tactical Athletes are people who use the bodies to provide safety for the community. Each Tactical athlete can say they are a professional athlete because they are all using their bodies to keep themselves, their partners, and their department safe so that everyone will return home safely to their families. For Law Enforcement, there are a total of 800,000 sworn law enforcement officers now serving in the United States. Female Officers make up 96,000, which is 12% within the United States.

Being an athlete takes its toll on your body, primarily when you rely on your body to keep yourself and the ability to perform at the highest level in your profession. I was a little curious about some of the statistics of each tactical athlete (Law Enforcement, Fire Fighters, and EMT) or First responders for injuries. My curiosity grew during the summer of 2020, when the United States flourished with the social unrest and bad talk about law enforcement during this time. I went onto the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, National Fire Protection Association, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; each website gave some valuable information regarding our heroes within the community and their safety.

When I was looking, I was amazed by a few 30% of assaults ended with injuries, with a total of 58,866 assaults in 2018, resulting in 18,005 injured officers (National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 2021). For Fire Fighters, there are 60,825 firefighters been wounded in 2019, which rose by 4% from the previous year (National Fire Protection Association, 2021). Last but not least is the EMT injuries; there was a total of 21,200 injuries, and 27% of these injuries came from Overexertion & bodily reaction, and 3,500 injuries came from violence (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2021). Now, what do these numbers mean?

On average, there are nearly 46,963 injuries between the three emergency response professions. What does this mean for each person in these professions? The chances of injury are High, with FireFighters are the highest at risk while EMT’s are at the lowest.

As a strength coach, my thoughts with these numbers is that they are too high. When seeing these numbers, each of us should remember 1) an emergency is happening in the community, and 2) somebody is risking their own lives for that emergency. There are ways to be able to prevent these numbers from rising. The best way to lower these numbers is the same as any other professional athlete, and this is by having a plan in place to address some of the most common injuries.

When making and creating a successful plan, specific criteria are needed for each athlete based on overall abilities and experience, specific job requirements, and previous injuries. A successful training program will be able to lower the risk of injuries while performing your duties. Still, the same exception happens if you don’t have a program that addresses your needs; this will increase your chances of being one of these statistics.

An Athletes performance, we do a needs analysis for every athlete; this needs analysis looks at every aspect of the athlete’s lives and place a program to address specific needs such as

• an increased strength,
• increase mobility,
• develop a full range of motion,
• strengthen of soft tissue within the athlete,
• increase in balance,
• increase in power

 To name a few things of many issues we fix and build for every athlete. The needs analysis is free with a success session to follow to go over the data. Thanks to each first responder and the sacrifice they make to keep our community safe.   

Citations

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES WORKERS. Retrieved from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/ems/data.html

National Fire Protection Association. (2021). Firefighter injuries in the United States. Retrieved from National Fire Protection Association: https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-tools/Emergency-Responders/Firefighter-injuries-in-the-United-States#:~:text=An%20estimated%2060%2C825%20firefighter%20injuries,24%2C525%20exposures%20to%20hazardous%20conditions.

National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. (2021). LAW ENFORCEMENT FACTS. Retrieved from National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund: https://nleomf.org/facts-figures/law-enforcement-facts