CLINICAL CASE - BREAKDANCE INJURY OF THE TOE

HISTORY: A 29-year old breakdance national representative sustained a foot injury while training a specific movement. He was spinning on his right hand (an upside-down position, hand is on the floor, feet are in the air and the body is tight in the position). As he tried to land his head on the hand which was on the floor, he lost balance and landed on his right toe. At first, he had the sense of numbness in his toe. When he stepped forward, he had a “cutting” feeling that something in the toe or the toe itself flew out and came back. He reported the pain to National Team’s sports physician and later referred to an orthopaedic specialist. PHYSICAL EXAMINATION: Limited dorsal flexion of the toe, palpatory pain in the area of the flexor of the toe. DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS: Sprain of the first metatarshopahalangeal (MTP) joint or turf toe (TT), bone fracture, contusion TEST AND RESULTS: MR revealed partial rupture of the plantar structures along with sesamoid bones edema. FINAL/WORKING DIAGNOSIS: Turf toe grade 2 injury TREATMENT AND OUTCOMES: The patient was treated conservatively, initially with rest, ice, compression, and elevation (RICE). It was immobilized for 2 weeks, after which rehabilitation protocol for another 4 weeks was instituted. Light training was started 6 weeks after the injury and gradual return to full activity was achieved after 8 weeks. The study was funded by Universty of Zagreb Funding, Title of the project: Development of health screening and physical fitness assessment protocols for breakdancers, grant no. 10106-22-3045; Croatia, EU