CASE REPORT   

Medicina dello Sport 2021 September;74(3):537-46

DOI: 10.23736/S0025-7826.21.03934-X

Copyright © 2021 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English, Italian

Application of localized cryotherapy (-160 °C) on tennis leg injury: tissue remodeling and recovery in an elite Italian soccer player

Silvana GIANNINI ^{1, 2} ✉, Federica PULCINI ³, Stefano DAINELLI ⁴, Luca PENGUE ⁵

¹ Department of Radiology, Villa Stuart Nursing Home, Rome Italy; ² Department of Sports, University of Rome “Foro Italico,” Rome, Italy; ³ Private Practitioner, Rome, Italy; ⁴ Private Practitioner in Physiotherapy, Florence, Italy; ⁵ Private Practitioner in Sports Medicine, Florence, Italy

We present the case of a Serie A 26-year-old Italian soccer player with 3 episodes of grade II/III tear of the right triceps sural (tennis leg) within a period of 4 months with brief return to the team before the third and last new injury. The last sports injury presented a significant grade III rupture of the distal medial twin with surgical indication. The medical team ruled out a surgical therapy and agreed to modify the conservative treatment by inserting a dedicated combined protocol of cryo-focused therapy at a temperature of -160°C, physiotherapy and accelerated re-athletization. The athlete returned to full competitive activity with the team after 40 days of combined therapy which started following 7 days of only physiotherapy treatment.

KEY WORDS: Cryotherapy; Sports; Ultrasonography; Magnetic resonance imaging