Intramuscular degloving injury of rectus femoris in a young elite athlete: A Case Report

Abstract

Injuries to the rectus femoris muscle are common in sports. It is the second most common cause of lower limb muscle injuries in track and field events and third most common cause of injuries in football. It also hasprevalence among basketball, American football and rugby. Intramuscular degloving injury of rectus femoris is a very uncommon injury and has been reported in a few recent case reports. This injury is very specific for rectus femoris because of its peculiar anatomy. However uncommon the injury may be, its inclusion in muscle injury classification system is important in recognising it and treating it as per laid down guidelines. The various classification systems of muscle injury do not have a mention of intramuscular degloving injury. Hence, such injuries are most often missed in diagnosis and present a clinical dilemma to the clinician in terms of rehabilitation protocol and prognosis. The present report is about a rare case of intramuscular degloving injury of rectus femoris in a track and field athlete presenting two years after initial episode with multiple recurrences and loss of flexibility and strength.