Incidence and Risk Factors of Foot and Ankle Disorders in Male Finnish Conscripts

Many studies focusing on musculoskeletal disorders or injuries have been performed in countries where the army is recruited as volunteers. Little is known about foot and ankle disorders among young men in conscript armies.

We studied the incidence and risk factors of foot and ankle disorders in 4,029 Finnish army male conscripts of the same age among five different cohorts born in 1969, 1974, 1979, 1984, or 1989. Data were collected from the medical reports of the Finnish Defence Forces. Self-reported symptoms and diseases detected in the health examination prior to military service, and information obtained from visits to garrison health care centers were analyzed.

A total of 1,623 conscripts visited health care professionals due to foot or ankle disorders during their military service. About 511 (31.5%) of those had suffered an injury. The majority of the visits to garrison health care centers due to foot or ankle disorders occurred during the first few months of military service. Smoking, flatfoot deformity, previous injuries, and Class A military service were statistically significantly related with the incidence of foot or ankle disorders. There were statistically significantly less foot and ankle disorders if previous mental symptoms were reported. The data suggest that poor adaptation to physically demanding military training may cause foot and ankle disorders among many conscripts.

The study shows that foot and ankle disorders are common in this population. Most of them occur in the first 2 months of the military service. Further analysis of different conditions was not possible, as many of the diagnostic codes were missing.