Nerve Entrapment Mistaken for Referred Musculoskeletal Pain: A Review of Diagnostic Pitfalls in Sports Medicine
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22548641Keywords:
Nerve entrapment, Deep gluteal syndrome, Meralgia paraesthetica, Peripheral nerve injury, Diagnostic delay, Sports medicineAbstract
Peripheral nerve entrapment syndromes in athletes -- including deep gluteal syndrome, meralgia
paraesthetica, suprascapular nerve entrapment, tarsal tunnel syndrome, common peroneal nerve
entrapment, and ilioinguinal or obturator nerve entrapment -- present with pain patterns that closely
overlap common musculoskeletal diagnoses, and case series consistently report substantial diagnostic
delay before the underlying nerve cause is identified. Standard imaging is frequently normal or
non-specific, and provocative nerve-specific testing, though usually diagnostic when performed, is not
routinely included in first-line assessment of the musculoskeletal presentations these syndromes mimic.
This review synthesises the case series, electrodiagnostic, and diagnostic-accuracy literature on
sports-related nerve entrapment to set out the clinical features that should raise suspicion, the
musculoskeletal diagnoses each syndrome most often mimics, and why diagnostic delay has remained a
persistent pattern across this literature.
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