Monitoring the Thickness of Periosteum in Stress Injury by High Frequency Ultrasound during Recruits Military Training

Abstract：Objective To observe the thickness of bilateral anteriormedial tibial periosteum during recruits mili-tary training using portable ultrasound frequency probe in order to explore early diagnostic value of high frequency ul-trasound to stress injury. Methods 300 recruits were randomly selected for the study from Dec. 2012 to Apr. 2013,all of whom had no leg pain before training. The thickness of bilateral anteriormedial tibial periosteum was measured by portable ultrasound frequency probe at the beginning of training,one month and three months after training. Upper, middle and lower portion were divided from tibial tubercle to malleolus medialis. Upper and lower portion were meas-ured,recorded and compared. Results Bilateral anteriormedial tibial periosteum was significantly thicker one month and three months after training than that in the beginning(P ﹤ 0. 05). There was no significant difference in bilateral anteriormedial tibial periosteum one month and three month after training(P ﹥ 0. 05). Bilateral anteriormedial tibial periosteum and upper portion of offside anteriormedial tibial periosteum were significantly thicker after one month of training. A total of 15 cases of stress injury were included in the group with 12 cases of right,3 cases of left,11 cases of upper,4 cases of lower. The extent of bone stress injury gradually increased with prolonged military training. Conclu-sion Portable ultrasound frequency probe is useful for soft tissue lesions,which can observe the thickness of tibial periosteum accurately,and can be used as preferred examination and diagnosis for bone stress injury of the lower limbs in recruits military training. The upper portion of offside tibia is high incidence area of stress injury.