Avulsion fracture of the lesser trochanter in a skeletally immature freestyle footballer

Abstract

We report the case of a skeletally immature freestyle footballer who presented with avulsion fracture of the lesser trochanter. The patient had precursor symptom before onset during a ball juggling. Nonoperative treatment demonstrated good clinical course. This new sporting activity involves kicking the ball continuously, typically with both the hip and the knee in flexion. This repetitive movement might cause continuous stretching stress of the iliopsoas muscle at the apophysis of the lesser trochanter, causing disruption at this site. This new sporting activity in this age cohort may have higher prevalence of this type of injury due to its unique repetitive hip flexion movement.