Application of Tenodesis for an Extremely Rare Hand Extensor Injury in an Athlete: A Case Report

Author Info

João Pereira André Moreira Joana Azevedo David Ferreira Elisabete Ribeiro Pedro Varanda Luís Rodrigues

Corresponding Author

João Pereira
Serviço de Ortopedia E Traumatologia; Hospital de Braga, Braga, Portugal

A B S T R A C T

Spontaneous tendon ruptures of the wrist are a rare pathology, usually secondary to rheumatoid arthritis or distal radius fractures and most commonly evolving the extensor pollicis longus. Sport-related etiology is a growing tendency of this pathology. As far as the authors know, this is one of the first sport-related extensor carpi radialis brevis (ECRB) isolated spontaneous rupture described in the literature. We describe a case of a 41 year-old female amateur kickboxer who developed acute dorsal radial pain in the right wrist during practice. After attempting conservative treatment for 4 months with rest and NSAIDs she recurred at our clinic. Local pain at dorsal wrist extension was observed. MRI demonstrated an isolated ECRB rupture with associated fibrous tissue proximal to the extensor retinaculum. Surgical management was proposed and consisted of fibrous tissue debridement and ECRB-ECRL tenodesis. At 3 months of follow-up the patient reported return-to-play with impaired wrist motion and mild pain at maximum wrist extension. At 12 months of follow-up the patient was completely recovered and asymptomatic. Isolated tendon ruptures are a rare pathology, causing extreme pain and disability in the sport setting. Surgical management of this ECRB tendon rupture by tenodesis allowed for appropriate pain control and functional results and early return-to-play.

Article Info

Article Type

Case Report

Publication history

Received: Thu 22, Feb 2024
Accepted: Fri 12, Apr 2024
Published: Fri 26, Apr 2024

Copyright

© 2023 João Pereira. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.IJSCR.2024.01.03