Incidence and distribution of stress fractures in recruits during basic training

Stress fracture(SF)in military recruits in China was investigated usingTc-MDP bone scintigraphy in a randomized sample of 432 injured who wereclinically screened from 1060 recruits during basic training.The relationship between SFand training intensity was discussed.It was shown that the total incidence was 32.5%.There were two peaks during 9 training-weeks:one was in the 2nd week,and the otherin the 7th.Infantry soldiers had a more intensive training and,therefore a higher inci-dence than in artillery and service troops.Although SF was found in most ofweight-bearing bones,tibia was most commonly fractured(67%).The findings suggestthat SF is a major training-related injury in military recruits and improperly strengthenedtraining can increase the incidence.