MARCH FRACTURES

¹ Station Hospital, Basic Training Center No. 7, Army Air Forces Training Command, Atlantic City, New Jersey

Thirty-two cases of march fracture encountered in a Basic Training Center have been studied in an attempt to determine the etiology, the characteristics, and a possible mechanical means of reducing the incidence.

In view of the present generally accepted beliefs regarding march fractures, the following observations are of striking interest:

1. The fracture line was oblique in all early cases.

2. The second and third metatarsals only were involved.

3. The fracture line appeared on the medical surface of the metatarsal in twenty-nine of the thirty-two cases.

4. The second and third metatarsals were of greater length, as compared with the first metatarsal, in all but two cases.

In a clinically typical march fracture, which has not progressed sufficiently to be detected in a roentgenogram, the application of a metatarsal pad and the prescription of complete rest will shorten the total period of disability.

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