[Stress facture: epidemiology, physiopathology and risk factors].
OBJECTIVE



OBJECTIVE
The aim of this paper is to give an overview on the scientific information related to stress fracture risk factors.


METHODS
We searched the Medline and Embase databases using the keywords stress fracture, risk factors and bone microarchitecture. Only French and English articles were included and 52 were chosen because they corresponded to literary reviews, prospective and retrospective studies concerning individuals who participate in athletics, in military recruits or civil.


RESULTS
Stress factures are common injuries in individuals who participate in athletics, in military recruits. Stress fractures of the lower extremity most commonly involve the tibia. A stress fracture represents the inability of the skeleton to withstand repetitive bouts of mechanical loading. To prevent stress fractures, an appreciation of their risk factors is required. Risk factors include intrinsic risk factors such as female gender, amenorrhea, lower bone density, inadequate muscle function and biomechanical features as well as extrinsic risk factors such as overtraining program, inadequate equipment and the energetic nutrition deficit. The coexistence of different risk factors makes so difficult the isolation of etiologic variables


CONCLUSIONS
Several risk factors have been comprehensively assessed in numerous studies. Hence, to date, there is still no general screening tool available to identify individuals at risk. Bone texture analysis seems to offer new prospects in the identification of stress fracture susceptibility.
Ben Chihaoui
Manel
M
Service de Rhumatologie, Hôpital la Rabta, Tunis, Tunisie.
Elleuch
Mohamed
M
Sahli
Héla
H
Cheour
Ilhem
I
Romdhane
Rached Hadj
RH
Sellami
Slaheddine
S
D015775:Fractures, Stress / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D012307:Risk Factors