A study of patellofemoral plain in a junior infantry training unit

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.