A case of the Restriction of Horizontal Adduction of the Shoulder Joint due to Intramuscular Injection to the Deltoid Muscle

Abstract

There are two possible causes that developed the restriction of joint range of motion after intramuscular injection.
The first category is peripheral nerve injury after injection which fregently occurred in the radial nerve and the sciatic nerve. The others is degeneration or scar of the muscle tissue which encounter often in rectus femoris muscle in children.
The contracture of shoulder joint due to deltoid muscle shortening secondary to the injection is very rare.
This 34 year-old-female patient came to our clinic with pain and stiffness feeling on her right shoulder joint. We could get the history that she received repeated intramuscular injections to her right deltoid muscle for two years.
She was operated and was found a whitish cord like scarred band, 1cm wide, in the posterior part of the deltoid which was removed subsequently.
The histology showed marked atrophy, degeneration, and hyalinization of the muscle tissue.
She got fairly good range of motion in the horizontal adduction at the shoulder joint after the surgery.
Generally it is difficult to diagnosed this kind of disease on its early stage.
This adult case was not dropery diagnosed for about two years.