Tactical vests worn by law enforcement: is this improving stability for optimal job performance?

Abstract

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to determine whether equipped tactical vests would improve postural stability of law enforcement officers (LEOs) versus a duty belt or without either condition. Methods. Volunteers were police officers (n = 25, 22 males, three females; age 42.4 ± 3.2 years; weight 101.65 ± 19.4 kg; height 178.92 ± 8.2 cm). The Institutional Review Board approved the investigation. A Bertec posturography plate (Bertec Inc., USA) determined four center of pressure (CoP) scores – eyes open stable surface (EOSS), eyes closed stable surface (ECSS), eyes open perturbed surface (EOPS), eyes closed perturbed surface (ECPS) – and four limit of stability (LoS) scores – frontal plane (LoSF), posterior plane (LoSP), left sagittal plane (LoSL), right sagittal plane (LoSR). Results. A repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) demonstrated no statistical difference within subject group CoP scores EOSS (p = 0.723), ECSS (p = 0.252), EOPS (p = 0.079) and ECPS (p = 0.137). Comparing between groups, the tactical vest demonstrated significance over the other CoP group conditions with ECPS (p = 0.001). The duty belt group showed significance with ECSS (p = 0.001). LoS variables indicated no significant results between groups. Conclusion. Tactical vests demonstrated improvements in ECPS scores (p = 0.001) compared to either group.

Keywords:

• police officers
• tactical vest
• duty belt
• balance
• stability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.