Axillary nerve palsy following squash playing

A 27-year-old otherwise healthy male presented with an isolated but complet e axillary nerve palsy after excessive squash playing. When repeated electr omyographic investigations showed no signs of reinnervation in the deltoid muscle, surgery was performed in order to restore nerve function. Intraoper atively, the nerve showed a short segment of thinning about 2 cm distally t he nerve's origin from the posterior fascicle. As intraoperative electrophy siological testing was also negative (no electrically evoked nerve action p otentials across the lesion) the suspicious nerve segment was resected and nerve continuity restored by sural grafts. Histologically, no intact nerve structures could be found at the site of the thinning. Most likely the lesi on was caused by traction forces. Follow-up studies showed reinnervation of deltoid function over time.