Introduction:

Musculoskeletal injuries are the main cause of non-combat casualties in the Armed Forces. It is essential to collect and analyze data on them to determine risk factors. This should translate into the development of adequate physical preparation planning, which allows prevention, recovery of injured personnel and the fulfillment of the tasks assigned to each tactical position.

Material and method.

Descriptive, cross-sectional and retrospective observational epidemiological design, extracting from the official statistics published by the Ministry of Defense data on accidents suffered by military personnel between 2009 and 2019, including those caused by sport practice.

Results.

Injuries due to sports activities account for approximately 50 % of the accidents suffered by the military. Those most affected are the enlisted service members (85 %), especially in the Army (86 %). The most frequent injuries are traumatic (around 65 %), although with a minor nature. The largest number of events occur in instruction and physical preparation; running, gymnastics and tests to assess physical condition (with 65 % of the total) are the most damaging tasks.

Conclusions.

Although the absolute number of injured has decreased throughout the decade analyzed, the trend and relative frequency of cases has hardly changed, in this sense the training methodology and the data collection mechanism should be reviewed.