Traumatic Avulsion Fracture of the Origin of the Brachioradialis Muscle: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Abstract

Avulsion fracture of the brachioradialis muscle origin at the proximal two-thirds of the lateral supraepicondylar ridge of the humerus is an extremely rare fracture with only 4 reported cases in the literature so far. In this article, we describe the case of a 50-year-old male patient who had sustained a closed fracture of the latter after falling from a height of 1.5 m on a flexed elbow and pronated hand. The patient was managed with immobilization of the elbow and wrist with a posterior splint in neutral position for 3 weeks, followed by wrist and elbow therapeutic mobilization sessions for 3 months. At the final follow-up, the patient had painless active and passive full range of motion of the elbow along with good flexion strength. The unique mechanism by which this avulsion fracture occurred is explained on the basis of the mode of injury, position of the limb, and structure and function of the brachioradialis muscle.

Keywords

• brachioradialis muscle
• avulsion
• trauma