POSTER ABSTRACTS - ISAKOS

system. Actually, tibial stress fractures are the
more common, with an incidence of 49-73%
between series. The current treatment includes a
progressive retraining that will place the athlete
out of competence for at least four months, and if
there are persistent symptoms, it could be over a
year. This same challenging situation has been
seen in military recruits. Limitation of the activity
causing the symptoms is the keystone to any
treatment regimen. However, the treatment os
often too long and costly in terms of abscense
leaves from military or sports activities. We
studied the behavior of tibial stress fractures
treated with shockwave therapy in o order to
enhance their healing and therefore reduce their
recovery time and pain. Five COLOMBIAn Navy
cadets were first included in our pilot study.
There were four women and one men. All of them
were 18 years old, first year cadets, with identical
bilateral stress fractures located at the union of
the middle and distal thirds of the tibia. The
onset of the symptoms were of at least 8 weeks
before they were included in the study. The
diagnosis was made over clinical history, Tc-99
Bone scans, ultrasound tests and X-Ray were
positive for stress fractures. The treatment
consisted of 2000 shockwaves of 0.7 Mili-Jules
applied to the more symptomatic Tibia and eight
days later the shock wave dose was repeated in a
second session. All patients went into a
progressive retraining program. Nutritional facts
and activity were strictly controlled, and the
progressive retraining standard program for the
management of stress fractures was established.
The rate of success was measured by the presence
of pain before, through, or after the training
practice on third, fourth, sixth and twelve months.
All patients were free of pain during the retraining
program on their shockwave treated tibia (P