Condoliase Injection Therapy for Lumbar Disc Herniation With Incomplete Motor Deficits in a Professional Footballer: A Case Report

TL;DR

A professional footballer with a herniated disc and partial muscle weakness recovered fully after condoliase injection therapy, avoiding surgery and returning to play.

Contribution

This case report is the first to document condoliase therapy's effectiveness in improving motor deficits and athlete-specific outcomes.

Findings

The patient's symptoms and motor deficits improved after 13 weeks of condoliase therapy.

The athlete returned to competition within 14 weeks without needing surgery.

Condoliase therapy may be effective for athletes with mild incomplete motor deficits.

Abstract

Although there are reports on good short-term outcomes of condoliase injection therapy for lumbar disc herniation (LDH), reports on the improvement of motor deficits, athlete-specific outcomes, or physiotherapy are lacking. We present a case of a 20-year-old male professional footballer who had low back pain, right gluteal pain, and numbness in the right lateral lower leg. The conservative treatment for L4/L5 disc herniation did not improve his symptoms, which were accompanied by incomplete motor deficits of the tibialis anterior (TA) and extensor hallucis longus (EHL) muscles. Thus, he was administered condoliase injection therapy. Approximately 13 weeks after the injection, his symptoms had completely disappeared, and his motor deficits had improved. After 14 weeks, the patient was able to return to competition. Condoliase injection therapy for athletes is one of the useful treatments with the potential to avoid surgery and return to competition, and it may also be effective for athletes with mild incomplete motor deficits.

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