Triceps Surae Examination Pearls

Obviously, the patient who presents with calf pain requires careful consideration for a deep vein thrombosis. But when the history doesn’t fit, you may find yourself scratching your head trying to figure out the other sources of calf pain. Sure, you can just pick your favorite ICD-10 diagnosis for right or left calf strain, write a prescription for ibuprofen, give some crutches, and send the patient out the door. But that makes the practice of emergency medicine less exciting and fulfilling. Why not take the two additional minutes required to sort out exactly the source of the calf pain? This blog post provides several pearls for a more sophisticated (and rewarding) examination of the calf muscles, the triceps surae.   The triceps surae include three separate calf muscles. The aponeuroses of the gastrocnemius, soleus, and plantaris unite to form the Achilles or calcaneal tendon. The calcaneal tendon forms the longest and most powerful tendon in the human body. You won’t find the plantaris muscle in six to eight percent of the population, but that is not a big deal because the plantaris is considered largely vestigial and rarely involved in calf strains. The other muscles of the triceps surae, the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles, however, are vulnerable to injury. The gastrocnemius muscle especially so because it crosses two joints and has a high density of type two fast-twitch muscle fibers. The soleus muscle is sometimes injured in isolation, so differentiating strains...
Source: M2E Too! Mellick's Multimedia EduBlog - Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs