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. 2020;67(1):49-52.
doi: 10.5387/fms.2020-27.

Abdominal oblique muscle injury at its junction with the thoracolumbar fascia in a high school baseball player presenting with unilateral low back pain

Kinshi Kato  1 , Ken-Ichi Otoshi  1 , Shoji Yabuki  1 , Koji Otani  1 , Takuya Nikaido  1 , Kazuyuki Watanabe  1 , Hiroshi Kobayashi  1 , Jun-Ichi Handa  1 , Shin-Ichi Konno  1
Affiliations

Abdominal oblique muscle injury at its junction with the thoracolumbar fascia in a high school baseball player presenting with unilateral low back pain

Kinshi Kato et al. Fukushima J Med Sci. 2020.

Abstract

Abdominal oblique muscle injury is characterized by acute pain and localized tenderness over the lateral trunk. This injury is particularly common among throwing athletes, and usually presents as anterolateral abdominal wall pain. Imaging evidence is scarce in regard to whether oblique muscle injury at its junction with the thoracolumbar fascia can instead present with low back pain. A high school baseball player with unilateral low back pain was referred to us with a different diagnosis. Careful palpation and magnetic resonance imaging guided our care, and the patient returned to high-level competition after 7 weeks of conservative treatment, with no report of recurrence in the subsequent 12 months. Oblique muscle injury at its junction with the thoracolumbar fascia should be added to the differential diagnosis for throwing athletes with unilateral low back pain following a torque movement.

Keywords: athletes; baseball; low back pain; ooblique muscle injury; thoracolumbar fascia.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest pertaining to this paper.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Appearance of the patient’s back. White circle indicates area of local tenderness.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Short tau inversion recovery (STIR) magnetic resonance imaging. Hematoma is seen tracking along fibers of the internal oblique muscle (A) and middle (B) and posterior (C) layers of the thoracolumbar fascia (white arrows). Arrowheads indicate the 12th rib.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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