Abnormal Pattern of Spondylosis and Postflight Neck Flexibility in Fifth-Generation Fighter Pilots

The pattern of degenerative changes in fighter pilots was remarkably different from that of civilians and was characterized by much higher incidence of degenerative changes and degenerative changes biased toward the upper cervical spine, despite the severity of individual degenerative findings being relatively modest. Correlation to postflight CROM changes, but not preflight CROM, implies a pain-mediated mechanism as opposed to altered biomechanics associated with degeneration of spinal tissues. Stemper BD, Muftuler LT, Cutlan R, Strother C, Sherman KA, Meier TB, Raff H, Yoganandan N, Gerds B, Dooley C, Le P, Hainsworth KR, Vedantam A. Abnormal pattern of spondylosis and postflight neck flexibility in fifth-generation fighter pilots. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2025; 96(10):884-893.