Calf injuries in professional football: Treat the patient or the scan? - A case study.

OBJECTIVE: To describe a case of a professional football player with significant imaging findings despite a rather innocuous clinical presentation with gradual onset of calf pain and who was able to continue training and playing with minor medical intervention. To discuss some of the limitations of existing muscle injury grading systems and their potential to cover the full range of injury presentations for calf injuries.

DESIGN: Case report.

SETTING: A professional football player was assessed by physical examination, clinical testing and imaging (MRI) after a gradual onset of a calf injury. After returning to training and competition, a follow-up of his symptoms was performed with regular ultrasound imaging assessments.

PARTICIPANT: A professional football player (35 years, 1.90 m, 88 kg) male, African, striker, playing in the Professional Arabian Gulf League.

CONCLUSION: The discordance between the clinical presentation and the imaging findings resulted in a challenging situation regarding the decision of whether to allow the player to train and compete. In addition, existing muscle injury grading systems do not seem to cover the full range of injuries seen in clinical practice.