'MARCH FRACTURES'

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 251, 23 October 1944, Page 3

'MARCH FRACTURES'

AN OLD ARMY CURSE

NEW CURE TECHNIQUE TRIED

NEW YORK. A group of orthopaedic surgeons at an Army camp in the United States has developed a new technique for handling "march fractures," the historic plague of Army doctors. Instead of ordering* the man to bed, the usual treatment, the patient is fitted with special shoes and kept on duty. Into each shoe is built a thin, fiat iron bar in the non-weight-bearing portion of the soles. Sometimes a felt or rubber pad is added. The new device is called a "march bar," and reports say it constitutes a satisfactory treatment, producing rapid healing by protecting the weakened bone from strain.

"March fractures" are actual fractures of the bones which apparently result from prolonged inarches. They occur principally in the second and third metatarsal bones which are at the forward part of the arch of the foot. The distinguishing characteristic of "march fractures" is that there is never any history of specific injury or strain, but always one of long marches The accepted medical theory is that they occur when over-exertion produces extreme fatigue and complete exhaustion of the muscles, which throws all the stress directly on the bone structure.