CAMP PENDLETON , CALIFORNIA  –   Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton’s physical therapy department provided subject matter expert assistance to the staff of Field Medical Training Battalion – West to revamp the physical training program for the school with a goal of decreasing injuries and increasing the percentage of students passing the physical training events.

Staff in the physical therapy clinic in the 21 Area of Camp Pendleton recognized there were a high number of injuries stemming from the arduous physical evaluation events during the 55-day training cycle at FMTB - West.

Lt. Cmdr. Yui Wong, a Doctor of Physical Therapy at NHCP, reached out to the leadership at FMTB - West offering to review the training program to see if there were ways to decrease injuries while maintaining or increasing the physical fitness of the students.

Navy Capt. William Plummer III, the commanding officer of FMTB - West, invited Wong and Navy Lt. Erin Wippermann, another NHCP physical therapist, to meet with him and his staff.

“We were given parameters to provide an updated training program, and we created an evidence-based program that would condition and strengthen students in progressive and adaptive timelines in order to meet the grueling demands of the Navy and Marine Corps fleet,” said Wong. “We also incorporated mobility and recovery programming to ensure students would have restorative physical training that would increase physical resilience and decrease injury risk.”

Although the new program has only been in effect for one class cycle, the early returns are very positive.

“We have historically accrued a fairly consistent average of 26 light duty students,” said Navy Lt. Matthew Nelson, the operations officer for FMTB - West. “Since Lt. Cmdr. Wong and Lt. Wippermann’s work, we have seen an almost 90% decrease in training related musculoskeletal injuries and to this point, we have had a 100% pass rate of all physical training requirements as we near the end of our course.”

The program was designed to offer a path to improvement for every student.

“We designed our exercises, reps, sets, and rest intervals to target the lowest common denominator of student physical fitness, but still allowed instructors to challenge the highly motivated and physically fit students,” Wong added. “Instructors have given us great feedback, and we’ve made small enhancements to the program on the fly.”

Plummer directly spoke to the value provided by the NHCP PT team.

“Lt. Cmdr. Wong and Lt. Wippermann are exceptional officers and we, the staff, and students of FMTB - West, are eternally grateful for their efforts and guidance. As a direct result of the revamped PT playbook, the students currently enrolled in our Field Medical Service Technicians course have successfully completed all of their physical training events. A true first!” said Plummer. “This 100% pass rate, coupled with the significant reduction in the number and severity of musculoskeletal injuries sustained by our FMST students due to participation in PT events, are true testaments to the efficacy of the PT playbook and the expertise of your team!”

The NHCP PT team had to use some creativity to develop an effective program due to a lack of equipment at FMTB - West.

“The challenge of such programming includes limited training resources and a diverse range of student abilities,” said Wong. “We developed a practical training program that used readily available equipment as resistance devices such as ruck sacks and flak vests due to the lack of robust physical training equipment.”

Plummer has completely “bought in” to the program and is putting significant resources toward furthering the effort by purchasing equipment.

“Based upon my full confidence in the revamped FMST PT playbook and the affinity our students had for the new PT program, FMTB - West is investing approximately $70,000 in a High Intensity Tactical Training box which contains the equipment to support and complement the exercises in question,” he added.

Wong hopes to build on this success and provide assistance to additional commands across the installation.

“We look forward to future opportunities to integrate more Human Performance initiatives with FMTB - West and other operational units across Camp Pendleton,” he said.

Story originally posted on DVIDS: NHCP PT Department assists FMTB-West in improving performance while decreasing injuries