Musculoskeletal injury (MSKI) outcome definitions as reported in military population research from 2015-2025: A scoping review protocol

Background: Musculoskeletal injury (MSKI) is a problem within militaries worldwide. There is heterogeneity in MSKI outcome definitions, including what constitutes incident injury, what comprises estimates of MSKI occurrence, and whether time-loss is included, etc. Inconsistent measurement impedes synthesis and hinders the ability to identify the most effective interventions to reduce MSKI. Objective: This scoping review aims to describe the ways in which MSKI has been defined in research conducted in military populations from 2015 to present.Methods: A literature search for manuscripts related to musculoskeletal injury in military populations will be developed with a health sciences librarian and conducted in PubMed, Embase, Scopus, CINAHL, SPORTdiscus and Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) databases. Included reports will be published in English from 2015, the year ICD-10 diagnosis codes were implemented in United States military health records. From full-text articles meeting inclusion criteria, two authors will independently extract the case definitions of MSKI, whether incident/reinjury/exacerbation MSKI were estimated separately, if prior injury history was measured, whether and how estimates of time-loss were reported, and the data source(s) used for each of these. We will report the review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping reviews (PRISMA-SCR). Ethics and Dissemination: No ethics approval is needed for this scoping review, as it relies solely on literature that is already published. This review will be disseminated as a published manuscript in a peer-reviewed journal, at relevant scientific conferences and through other media as appropriate. Key words: military, musculoskeletal injury, scoping review