March Fractures of Metatarsals in Infantry Soldiers

Kim, Hee Chun; Kim, Tae Hoon; Kim, Chung Hwan; Cho, Duck Yun

Abstract

Stress fracture of the metatarsal was first described as March fracture by Breithaupt, a Prussian military surgeon in 1855, According to the classical references, the second metatarsal is the most frequently involved and radiological evidence of fracture appears as late as several weeks. The purpose of this study is to document the incidence and clinical feature of march fractures in Korean military soldiers. From may 1991 to April 1994, at one military hospital in Korea, 52 march fractures in 46 patients were detected among infantry soldiers. There are different findings of fracture site and its clinical features from the previous foreign reports. 1. By physical examination, direct point tenderness on the location of the metatarsal shaft is characteristic, with careful history taking. 2. On roentgenographic examination, cortical fissuring or break is seen one week after onset of symptoms and external callus is seen from two weeks or at the latest four weeks. 3. The third metatarsal is the most frequently involved site(34 cases, 65.4%), and the second metatarsal is less frequent(12 cases, 23.1%) 4. The discrepancy between previous reports and present findings should be emphasized and analyzed in further study.