Sural nerve injury in a footballer related to blunt leg trauma.

The sural nerve runs a superficial course in the posterior leg. Reported sural nerve injuries in athletes are very uncommon. This case report highlights the occurrence of numbness to the heel and lateral ankle of a footballer following direct trauma to the posterior calf. This led to a hematoma developing around the sural nerve and the combination of the hematoma and the direct nerve trauma resulted in the sural nerve dysfunction. Full sensation returned in this player's heel and lateral ankle after 2 weeks of rehabilitation. Athletes presenting with numbness to the heel and lateral ankle should be questioned about leg trauma, and sural nerve injury should be added to the list of differential diagnoses.