Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jan 26, 2020; 8(2): 444-450
Published online Jan 26, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i2.444
Efficacy of comprehensive rehabilitation therapy for checkrein deformity: A case report
Xiao-Jun Feng, Yan Jiang, Jian-Xian Wu, Yun Zhou
Xiao-Jun Feng, Yan Jiang, Jian-Xian Wu, Yun Zhou, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The Second Hospital of Anhui Medical University and Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230000, Anhui Province, China
Author contributions: Feng XJ and Wu JX contributed to the conception and design of the study; Jiang Y contributed to data acquisition, data analysis and interpretation, and manuscript writing; Feng XJ, Jiang Y, Wu JX, and Zhou Y contributed to editing, reviewing, and final approval of the manuscript.
Supported by the Key Projects of the Natural Science Foundation in Colleges and Universities of Department of Education of Anhui Province, No. K12016A34; Clinical Characteristics (Rehabilitation Medicine) Project of Quality Engineering of Anhui Province Education Department, No. tszy011.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jian-Xian Wu, BSc, Doctor, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The Second Hospital of Anhui Medical University and Anhui Medical University, No. 289, Jixi Road, Hefei 230000, Anhui Province, China. ay2fyjianxianwu@126.com
Received: November 5, 2019
Peer-review started: November 5, 2019
First decision: December 4, 2019
Revised: December 10, 2019
Accepted: January 2, 2020
Article in press: January 2, 2020
Published online: January 26, 2020
Abstract
BACKGROUND

In clinical practice, checkrein deformity is usually found in patients with calf injuries after ankle fracture or distal tibial fracture. The patients with checkrein deformity mainly report distending pain in toe tips, pain when walking or wearing shoes, and gait instability. Previous studies have mainly reported surgical treatments for checkrein deformity, while few studies have reported using comprehensive rehabilitation alone to improve the checkrein deformity.

CASE SUMMARY

A 28-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital due to unstable gait caused by pain in the right hallux, for which she was unable to stretch for over three months. The patient had undergone “resection of ameloblastoma at the right mandible, mandibulectomy, and autogenous right fibula grafting”. The patient’s hallux toe, as well as the second and third toes of the right foot could not be stretched, with pain in all the toes during walking. Based on the medical records of the patient, as well as the results of physical and auxiliary examinations, the main diagnosis was checkrein deformity in the right foot. Since the patient refused surgical treatment, rehabilitation was the only treatment option. At discharge, the patient reported evident improvement in the pain in the toes, gait stability, as well as increased ability to climb up and downstairs.

CONCLUSION

Comprehensive rehabilitation therapy could effectively alleviate the manifestations of checkrein deformity and improve the walking ability of the patients.

Keywords: Checkrein deformity, Comprehensive rehabilitation, Fibula osteotomy, Visual analogue scale, Gait analysis, Case report

Core tip: We report a rare case of checkrein deformity following fibula osteotomy. The checkrein deformity in this patient could be induced by the injuries to the muscle belly of the flexor halluces longus, and formation of hematoma. For therapy, we used comprehensive rehabilitation treatment such as thermal therapy, medium-high frequency electrotherapy, shock wave therapy, massage, etc. After 20 d of treatment, the pain and gait of the patient had improved. In addition, no relapse of the toe pain was reported during the follow-up after discharge. The daily walking of the patient was not affected. This case indicates that comprehensive rehabilitation can be effectively used in the conservative and postoperative treatment of checkrein deformity.