Twelve stress fractures of the pubic arch were seen in eleven patients
who were joggers, long-distance runners, or marathoners. In two of the
fractures there were complications of healing; that is, delayed union or
refracture. With two exceptions, the lesions occurred in women between the
ages of nineteen and forty-eight. In all of the patients the fracture was
in the inferior pubic ramus near the symphysis pubis, and caused pain in
the groin, buttock, or thigh. All fractures were non-displaced and easy to
overlook on the initial radiographic examination; when a fracture of the
pubic arch was clinically suspected but the radiographs were normal, a
radionuclide bone scan was diagnostic. After identification of the
fracture, running had to be curtailed until the symptoms disappeared in
order for healing to occur.