Rehabilitation Following Proximal Rectus Femoris Repair: A Case Report

Abstract

Injury to the rectus femoris (RF) myotendinous complex is the most common location of quadriceps injury, due to combined loads of stretch and eccentric muscular activation. To our knowledge, open proximal RF repair has been reported, but a thorough description of postoperative rehabilitation and functional progression of athletic activity has not been described. This case report outlines the rehabilitation of a 30-year-old female following open proximal RF repair after 15 months of failed conservative treatment. Six months postoperatively she returned to competitive recreational soccer with no complaints.

Management of proximal rectus femoris injuries – do we know what we’re doing?: A systematic review

“…Intervention: Conservative (n = 17) [ 43 , 49 , 61 , 63 ] and surgical interventions (n = 16) [ 21 , 44 , 45 , 51 , 62 ] were reported in four and five studies respectively in athletes with FT injuries.…”

“…All studies (n = 17) reporting surgical treatment employed a core principle of re-anchoring the torn tendon to its origin. The athletes included fifteen kickers and two sprinters [ 21 , 44 , 45 , 51 , 62 , 79 ]. The details of the surgical techniques are described in Table 3 .…”

“…[ 45 ] conducted surgical intervention on five athletes immediately after injury (delay to surgery: mean 9.1 (5–14) days post-injury). The surgical indications in other studies varied and amongst them included patient preference (n = 1), [ 62 ] > 2 cm tendon retraction on MRI (n = 4) [ 51 ] and a failed conservative treatment program (n = 7) [ 21 , 44 , 79 ]. Scar tissue formation was found in most athletes from the failed conservative treatment program [ 44 , 79 ].…”

“…The mean RTS period after surgery was 5 (2–9) months in all studies for all injury patterns and surgical techniques used, as noted in Table 3 [ 21 , 44 , 45 , 51 , 62 , 79 ]. The RTS time was less than 6 months when surgery was performed acutely [ 45 , 51 , 62 ] and longer with surgery after failed conservative therapy [ 21 , 44 ]. Where reported there were no injuries noted in the re-injury follow-up periods ranging between 2 and 35 months [ 21 , 44 , 45 , 51 , 79 ].…”

“…The RTS time was less than 6 months when surgery was performed acutely [ 45 , 51 , 62 ] and longer with surgery after failed conservative therapy [ 21 , 44 ]. Where reported there were no injuries noted in the re-injury follow-up periods ranging between 2 and 35 months [ 21 , 44 , 45 , 51 , 79 ].…”