Abstract
The problem of swollen joints in athletes represents a typical risk following a sports injury, but this is not the only cause, although it is the most frequent one. Indeed inflammatory arthritis may also be a source of joint effusion. We report the case of a 21-year-old professional football player who suffered from pain and swelling in his joints after a mild sprain. He first underwent arthroscopy, followed by intra-articular steroid injections at a later stage. Despite that, his joints swelled again over the next few weeks. The patient was diagnosed as suffering from reactive arthritis (ReA) and treated with a conventional treatment. As the synovitis still persisted, he was finally treated with Etanercept (50 mg s.c. weekly) which resulted in a complete and quick resolution of arthritis, allowing the patient to return to his previous level of performance.
Highlights
Episodes of arthritis in young athletes may not be recognized and be initially evaluated as joint swellings resulting from trauma
reactive arthritis (ReA), known as Reiter syndrome, is classified as a type of seronegative spondyloarthritis with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), arthritis associated with inflammatory bowel disease and undifferentiated arthritis, and shares some clinical features with these complaints [1]
ReA can be defined as the development of sterile inflammatory arthritis as a consequence of remote infection, often in the gastrointestinal or urogenital tract
Summary
Episodes of arthritis in young athletes may not be recognized and be initially evaluated as joint swellings resulting from trauma. We report the case of a 21-year-old professional football player who suffered from pain and swelling in his joints after a mild sprain. The patient was diagnosed as suffering from reactive arthritis (ReA) and treated with a conventional treatment.
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