Why the study?
Isolated complete distal ruptures of the rectus femoris muscle are rare, and there is no consensus on their treatment and return to play.
Does non-surgical management allow successful return to play in a professional football player with a complete distal rupture of the rectus femoris?
Does non-surgical management allow successful return to play in a professional football player with a complete distal rupture of the rectus femoris?
Non-surgical management of a complete distal rupture of the rectus femoris can lead to successful return to elite-level football without re-injury at 1 year.
May support nonoperative management in select athletes; leaves open need for comparative trials on distal RF ruptures.
Although muscle injuries represent the most frequent injury in professional football, isolated complete distal ruptures of the rectus femoris (RF) muscle are rare, and there is no consensus on their treatment and return to play (RTP). In this article, we report a clinical case of successful non-surgical management of an RF grade 4c muscle injury in a professional football player, in which the athlete was able to RTP 21 weeks after the injury, had no re-injury >1 year after RTP, and is playing at an elite level in the Portuguese Football First League.
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Fernandes et al. (2023) studied this question.
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