title: A study of patellofemoral plain in a junior infantry training unit.
abstract: The incidence of patellofemoral pain in a Junior Unit was assessed retrospectively over a 4 year period and prospectively by studying an annual intake of recruits during their initial training year. An average of 3.5% per intake were found to have been discharged due to the disease between 1977 and 1980. 4.5% of the intake prospectively studied were discharged and 75% of those presenting with symptoms were cured. The clinical characteristics of recruits presenting with the the disorder were prospectively studied in a controlled, blind, consecutive series of 45 patients. Two groups of characteristics were identified; those with an early, insidious onset in training, a pre-Service history and a poor response to physiotherapy and those with an acute, traumatic onset, presenting later in training and responding well to physiotherapy. The aetiology of patellofemoral pain in a Junior Recruit is discussed and attention drawn to specific problems encountered by these patients.
mesh_terms: D002357:Cartilage Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D005269:Femur; D006801:Humans; D007718:Knee Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis; D008887:Military Medicine; D010007:Osteochondritis / Q000175:diagnosis; D010146:Pain; D010329:Patella; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D006113:United Kingdom