A prospective study of the effect of the appropriateness of foot-shoe fit and training shoe type on the incidence of overuse injuries among infantry recruits

Abstract

In a prospective study of the effect of the appropriateness of foot-shoe fit and training shoe type on the incidence of overuse injuries among infantry recruits, it was found that three shoe widths for each shoe length size were necessary to adequately accommodate the recruit population's foot anatomy. Recruits compensated for the lack of available shoe widths by choosing larger shoe sizes. However, this compensation did not result in an increase in the incidence of overuse injuries. Recruits who trained in basketball shoes had a lower incidence of overuse injuries of the feet than recruits who trained in infantry boots (p = 0.0001), but the overall incidence of overuse injuries was the same in both groups.