Stress injury of the acromion: case report and literature review

Abstract

We report a case of stress injury of the acromion related to golf practicing in a 40-year-old male. Fractures of the scapula are unusual, with stress injury of the acromion being even rarer. The probable mechanism would be a strong contraction of posterior fibers of the deltoid during golf swing. There are few published reports of similar injuries, and to our knowledge, this is the first to demonstrate its features by magnetic resonance imaging. A review of the literature is also presented.

A stress fracture of the base of the acromion: a case report

“…Possible causes for the occurrence of these fractures are rotator cuff arthropathy [3, 6], history of reverse arthroplasty [10], manual lifting work [5], golfing [4, 7], football [8], and artistic gymnastics [9]. Our report describes the act of repeatedly carrying weight on the shoulder as a new mechanism of injury for this condition.…”

“…Conservative treatment is considered a viable treatment option in most reports [3–7, 10]. In patients with low functional demands, even when there is no consolidation, this treatment can be effective in improving symptoms [6].…”

“…Even when occurring in the same anatomical region, next to the spinoglenoid notch, these fractures are treated as fractures of the acromion [3, 5, 7, 9], of the base of the acromion [6, 8, 10], or of the spine [11]. The previous reports could be used the classification of Ogawa and Naniwa [12].…”

“…Stress fractures of the base of the acromion[3–10] are very rare and are usually successfully treated using conservative procedures[4, 5, 7, 8]. The need for surgery due to this type of fracture has only been reported in two case reports [9, 10].…”

Acromion stress fracture in an elderly cane walker with Parkinson’s disease: a case report

“…Therefore, acromial stress fracture should be considered in the differential diagnosis of young or elderly MDU's who present with acute or insidious pain of the weight bearing shoulder in the absence of trauma. Plain radiographs, CT scan, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and ultrasound have all been utilized successfully for the diagnosis [13,24,29].…”