About TRU
The TRU is a network of multidisciplinary international experts who investigate ways to optimise the physical and cognitive capabilities, and safety of tactical personnel – whether military, law enforcement, firefighters, or first responder organisations. It is a part of Bond University’s Faculty of Health Sciences & Medicine, which received the highest possible ranking of ‘well above world standard’, and ‘at world standard’ for human movement and sports science, from the Australian Research Council (ARC) in its Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) 2015 results.
The overarching aim of the group is to improve the wellbeing and occupational performance of those who serve and ensure new research findings are shared across the different tactical populations.
Services
The TRU provides services to government, industry, academic and private institutions. These include research projects, consultancy reports and educational and training packages.
Since 2015, the TRU team has conducted research across multiple tactical agencies covering initial training through to specialist selection and rehabilitation.
Consultancy projects have included the development of evidence-based, tactically viable, reports to inform multiple agencies and the generation of injury management, assessments, and conditioning optimization frameworks.
Education and training services use the latest research evidence and practical experience to provide workshops, courses or longer programs to tactical personnel as well as their support staff, such as physiotherapists, physical training instructors, and strength and conditioning coaches.
Latest news
New article alert!
The Relationship between Lower-Body Strength and Power, and Load Carriage Tasks: A Critical Review
The purpose of this review was to critically appraise articles that have investigated the association between lower-body strength and power during load carriage in tactical personnel. Literature databases were searched with specific search terms, yielding 921 articles. Additional studies found from article reference lists were also assessed for eligibility. Out of these articles, 16 met the inclusion/exclusion criteria and were critically appraised. Articles were assessed by the Downs and Black evaluation tool with inter-rater agreement determined by Cohen’s kappa and final results graded according to the Kennelly quality grading system. Of the 940 identified articles, 16 studies met the criteria for inclusion in this review. The average score of the eligible articles was 58%, considered to be of fair quality by the Kennelly grading system. The strength and volume of evidence reviewed suggests that: measures of lower-body strength and power can predict load carriage performance and appear to be important physical factors for load carriage ability, and that load carriage tasks negatively impact the performance of leg strength and power. Together these findings suggest that leg strength and power should be important considerations for tactical personnel training and assessment, as well as managing the impact of load carriage on tactical performance.
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2516&context=ijes
Research into stress and simulation
And so it starts. Piloting the bioharness integration with the Zero Latency ADA harness prior to a series of simulation and stress studies led by TRU’s Dr Elisa Canetti. This study will compare levels of stress in Veterans and Non Veterans exposed to an intensive simulation (Zero Latency scenarios). In addition, student stress responses from a Zero Latency zombie apocalypse will be compared to physiotherapy simulated patient assessments. Theory 1: It is better to partner up with a Vet if you want to survive the apocalypse as they will be less stressed. Theory 2: For students, facing a simulated patient exam is like facing a zombie apocalypse.
Upcoming events
There are currently no scheduled events.
