Traumatic foot drop due to tibialis anterior and extensor hallucis longus tendon rupture: A rare case report

Abstract

The authors present a rare case report from the time when India was struggling with a huge surge in corona cases and the mortality due to it was touching new peaks day by day. Not only the oxygen, ventilators and ICU beds but also cremation sites were overwhelmed by masses of COVID deaths. We report a rare case of a 30 year old male woodcutter in cremation ground, whose axe accidently slipped while cutting woods and injured his leg. Wound exploration and clinical examination confirmed our diagnosis foot drop due to traumatic rupture of anterior compartment muscle & tendons and radiograph confirming unicortical fracture of the tibia. Patient was taken to emergency OT and operated under spinal anesthesia and tendons repaired using modified Kessler technique. Traumatic rupture of the tibialis anterior (TA) tendon represents a very rare foot injury. A combined injury of the tibialis anterior (TA) and the extensor hallucis longus (EHL) tendons has hardly been reported. The rarity of this case prompted us to report it.