Rupture of the Long Head of the Biceps Tendon in a Pediatric Athlete: A Case Report

Complete Proximal Long Head Biceps Tendon Rupture in an Elite 17-year-Old Softball Pitcher: A Case Report

CASE

This case report describes the successful treatment of a year-round teenage softball pitcher who sustained a proximal biceps tendon rupture who underwent successful subpectoral tenodesis. To our knowledge, this is the only reported case of such an injury occurring in an underhand throwing teenage athlete.

CONCLUSION

This case highlights an unusual instance of a sport-related injury in an adolescent softball pitcher, suggesting that the softball pitch in elite athletes may put similar stress on the shoulder to overhead throwing athletes over time and further demonstrating that patients may continue to have success at elite levels of competition after tenodesis.

Evaluation and management of shoulder pain in skeletally immature athletes

Shoulder pain in young athletes generally is a result of poor sports technique and overuse. A number intrinsic causes of shoulder pain have been identified. Pain may also be referred to shoulder area from cervical spine, neck and chest pathology. Overuse stress injury of the proximal humeral physis is important to recognize early in order to prevent later complications. Shoulder impingement syndrome is a general term used to describe multiple underlying lesions and relatively uncommon in young athletes. In adolescent athletes, glenohumeral instability is an important underlying pathomechanical basis for shoulder pain. Other less frequent causes reviewed here include atraumatic osteolysis of the distal clavicle, long thoracic and suprascapular neuropathies.