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Costs And Benefits Of Physical Therapy Program Implementation For Air Force Fighter Pilots, Christian G. Erneston

Theses and Dissertations

Air Force fighter pilots face risks associated with neck and spine injuries sustained while operating fighter aircraft. Studies from the flying and medical communities indicate that muscle-strengthening prehabilitative care may decrease the risk of flying related injuries in high performance aircraft pilots. For this reason, the U.S. Air Force provided $24.9M to implement the Optimizing the Human Weapon System (OHWS) program. The program provides physical therapy and strength training to fighter pilots in participating units at twenty-one Air Force bases with the intent of reducing injury rates and time out of the cockpit. From a healthcare perspective there is interest …