STRESS FRACTURE OF THE PUBIC RAMUS IN FEMALE RECRUITSP. F. Hill, BSc, MB, BChir, Senior House Officer1; S. Chatterji, FRCS, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon1; D. Chambers, FRCS, Consultant in Accident and Emergency Medicine1; and J. D. Keeling, MB BS, MRCGP, Senior Medical Officer2
1 Cambridge Military Hospital, Aldershot, Hampshire GU11 2AN, UK. Correspondence should be sent to Dr P. F. Hill at 21 Stockhurst Close, Putney, London SW15 1NB, UK. During a four-month period we observed 12 stress fractures of the inferior pubic ramus in 11 military recruits undergoing basic training. Eleven of these were in women. This high number was considered to be caused by the introduction of mixed training of male and female recruits; this forces women to increase their stride length when marching. The presenting symptom was chronic groin pain which failed to settle with rest, and the clinical diagnoses were confirmed by radiographs in all but one patient who was diagnosed by 99mTc bone scanning. Since the required stride length has been reduced there have been no new cases of stress fracture of the pelvis.
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