Lumbar facet fracture in an adolescent ice hockey player

• Published in: The Physician and sportsmedicine Vol. 27; no. 12; pp. 95 - 98
• Main Authors: SHAFFER, W. O, TAYLOR, M. R, SUNDARAM, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY McGraw Hill 01.11.1999; Vendome Group LLC
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Cancer; Case studies; Ice hockey; Injuries; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Measurement Techniques; Medical Evaluation; Medical sciences; Muscular Strength; National Surveys; Osteoarticular system. Muscles; Pain; Physical Examinations; Physical Fitness; Physicians; Radiology; Radionuclide investigations; Spinal cord injuries; Sports injuries; State Surveys; Surgery; Team Sports; Teenagers; Trauma; Radionuclide study; Human; Radiodiagnosis; Back (anatomy); Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Fracture; Trauma; Case study; Ice hockey; Sport; Adolescent; Diagnosis; Lumbar; Facet; Emission tomography
• ISSN: 0091-3847; 2326-3660
• DOI: 10.3810/psm.1999.11.1109

A 14-year-old boy was checked hard as he was winding up to shoot in an ice hockey game. He experienced low-back pain during the game but when examined later for complaints of pain and fever, he denied trauma. Plain x-rays were normal, but a bone scan showed increased uptake at L-3. MRI evaluation revealed a lumbar mass; a CT scan showed the mass to be a hematoma and edema secondary to a facet fracture. Acute severe back pain in a hockey player should prompt a careful history and a search for musculoskeletal injury. When trauma in the lumbar spine is suspected and plain radiographs are nondiagnostic, CT scans are more precise than MRI for diagnosing injury.