| Popis: |
Two years after the closing of the Army Physical Fitness Research Institute, an active duty Army physical therapist was once again assigned to serve the Army Sergeants Major Academy (SMA) students. Purpose: To evaluate the effects of an on-site physical therapist on injuries and physical fitness of Sergeants Major Course (SMC) students and assess risk factors for injury among the SMC students. Methods: Injury risk factors, physical fitness, and injury data were collected by survey from a SMC class with a physical therapist, Class 64, in September 2013 and May 2014. SMC Class 63 did not have a dedicated, on-site physical therapist (PT), so was used for comparison. For both classes, rosters and electronic APFT results were obtained from the SMA and medical records were obtained from the Defense Medical Surveillance System (DMSS). Semi-structured interviews with the SMC physical therapist provided initial program background and intent, and follow-up details of the program implementation, strengths, weaknesses, and next steps. Results: A total of 406 students in Class 64 took both surveys (77 percent). Most students who took both surveys were male (89 ), over age 40 (62 ), Army (93 ) and active duty (90 ). APFT run times and BMI did not change during SMC attendance, while APFT sit-up and push-up performance increased by 2 to 3 repetitions. The proportion of students treated for injury during the SMC for Class 64 was slightly higher than Class 63 (70 vs. 64 , p=0.07). The incidence of lower extremity injury medical encounters was statistically significantly higher in Class 64 (57 vs. 50 , p=0.02). Nearly half of all SMC students in Class 64 had seen the SMC physical therapist and 46 percent of those who had seen the physical therapist stated they would not have sought physical therapist care if she had not been co-located at the school. Conclusions: Based on this evaluation of the short-term effects on injury and fitness, we... (cont.) |
