Knowledge Assessment of Stress Bone Fractures among Soldiers in Saudi Arabia

Background: Stress fractures are well perceived in military preparing and athletes. Aside from knowledge of the frequency of these fractures and their impact on the economy and lost training hours, there are just a few studies in Saudi Arabia that show the real incidence of these fractures. The precise incidence must be known in order to provide recommendations for future preventative initiatives. This study aims to assess the knowledge of stress fractures among Saudi soldiers.

Methodology: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted in medical centers; these centers are located in Saudi Arabia on male and female patients of all ages who are in Saudi military society to assess the knowledge of stress fractures among Saudi military society. Data collection was done by questionnaire that distributed between Saudi soldiers. Data was entered and analyzed using (SPSS) program, version 20 (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 20.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.).

Results: Of all 1178 studied participants, 51.5% aged between 20- 30 years old. 91.7% were males. 47.5% of all participants had never heard of stress fractures before, 26.2% heard about it when joined military and 17.4% heard about it before joining the military field. 20.8% of all participants had stress fractures before, 10.4% were diagnosed through x-rays and medical history with the doctor, 4.6% were diagnosed through medical history only, and 2.4% diagnosed themselves. 85.3% of all participants agreed that stress fractures occur due to repetitive loading on the bones, 76.6% agreed that predominance of stress fractures of the lower extremities, over fractures of the upper extremities, 67.6% reported that stress fractures can be treated with painkillers, physiotherapy and reduce the risk and 78.6% agreed that stress fractures can be prevented by wearing appropriate footwear.

Conclusion: Participants and relatively good knowledge of stress fractures. Knowledge of stress fracture was significantly associated with years of experience of participants, military sector, and residence area in the kingdom.