The Fall That Shortened and Rotated the Leg
Elderly fall with groin pain and shortened externally rotated limb.
FREEOpen Mystery →🦴 Orthopaedics
Fifty story-driven cases selected across the core chapters of Orthopaedics. Titles conceal the diagnosis; each story ends with the reveal, key learning points and a take-home message.
Cases 1–2: FREE to everyone. Cases 3–50: 🔒 Medicine Case Series Premium. Subscribe to Medicine once and this entire subject is included FREE as bonus access. All cases include Reading Mode, Listen, Bookmark and Fullscreen.
The Hip Fracture That Hid on the First X-Ray
Persistent inability to bear weight after fall despite normal initial radiograph.
FREEOpen Mystery →The Child With an Elbow and No Pulse
Child after fall with swollen elbow and possible vascular compromise.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Wrist That Looked Like a Dinner Fork
Distal radius fracture with dorsal angulation after fall on outstretched hand.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Shoulder That Lost Its Roundness
Painful immobile shoulder with squared contour after trauma.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Finger That Pointed the Wrong Way After a Punch
Fifth metacarpal neck fracture after punching with possible rotational deformity.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Snuffbox That Stayed Tender
Radial wrist pain and anatomical snuffbox tenderness after fall.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Knee That Popped and Swelled in an Hour
Pivot injury with pop, immediate hemarthrosis and instability.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Knee That Locked After a Twist
Twisting injury with joint-line pain, clicking or locking.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Athlete Who Felt Kicked From Behind
Sudden posterior ankle pain with palpable gap and positive thompson test.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Runner With Pain on the Outside of the Knee
Lateral knee pain reproducibly triggered by running without instability.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Heel Pain Worst With the First Step
Plantar heel pain maximal with first steps after rest.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Teenager With a Painful Tibial Bump
Activity-related pain and tenderness at tibial tubercle during growth.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Limping Overweight Adolescent
Adolescent hip/knee pain with limp and externally rotated hip.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Child With a Painless Limp and a Flattening Hip
Painless or mildly painful limp with restricted hip abduction in a young child.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Newborn With Unequal Hip Folds
Hip instability or limited abduction in an infant.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Bowed Legs That Did Not Correct With Age
Progressive pathologic tibia vara in a young child.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Back That Curved Sideways During Growth
Asymmetric shoulders or rib hump in an adolescent.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Back Pain With Morning Stiffness in a Young Man
Inflammatory back pain improving with exercise and sacroiliac tenderness.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Back Pain That Shot Below the Knee
Radicular leg pain with neurologic signs and positive tension tests.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Back Pain With Fever After an Injection
Back pain, fever and evolving neurologic deficit with infection risk.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Night Pain That Needed an X-Ray
Focal nocturnal bone pain classically relieved by nsaids.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Teenager With Knee Pain and a Sunburst
Progressive metaphyseal pain/swelling around knee in an adolescent.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Onion-Skin Lesion With Fever
Bone pain, swelling and systemic symptoms with diaphyseal destructive lesion.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Giant Cell Lesion Near the Knee
Painful expansile epiphyseal lesion in skeletally mature young adult.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Bone That Broke Through a Tumor
Fracture after minimal trauma with preceding bone pain or known malignancy.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Hip Pain After Months of Steroids
Progressive groin pain with steroid/alcohol or other vascular risk.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Knee That Hurt More on Stairs With Age
Activity-related knee pain, crepitus and brief morning stiffness.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Painful Red Joint That Was Not Gout
Acute hot swollen joint with fever or risk factors.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Toe That Became Red Overnight
Sudden severe first mtp arthritis with erythema and tenderness.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Hand Deformity That Began With Morning Stiffness
Symmetric inflammatory small-joint pain and prolonged morning stiffness.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Shoulder Pain That Could Not Start Abduction
Painful weakness of abduction/external rotation after trauma or degeneration.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Shoulder That Froze Without Trauma
Progressive painful restriction of both active and passive shoulder movement.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Tingling Hand That Woke Her at Night
Nocturnal numbness in median distribution with thenar weakness in advanced disease.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Foot That Slapped the Ground
Foot drop with sensory loss over dorsum of foot after compression or knee injury.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Pain After a Cast That Kept Getting Worse
Severe pain out of proportion, pain on passive stretch and tense compartment.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Fracture That Would Not Unite
Persistent pain and absent radiographic progression months after fracture.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Healed Fracture That Healed Wrong
Deformity or functional impairment after fracture union in poor alignment.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Child With Fever and Bone Pain Near the Knee
Fever with focal metaphyseal bone pain and refusal to use limb.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Draining Sinus Years After a Fracture
Persistent sinus drainage, pain and sequestrum after prior fracture/infection.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Neck Pain After a Dive
Neck pain after axial-load trauma with possible neurologic deficit.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Weak Legs After Trauma With a Normal X-Ray
Neurologic deficit after trauma despite no fracture on initial radiographs/ct.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Elderly Back Pain After a Small Fall
Acute focal back pain after minor trauma with osteoporosis risk.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Child Who Would Not Use the Arm After Being Pulled
Toddler refuses to use arm after longitudinal traction with elbow held slightly flexed/pronated.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Painful Hip With Fever in a Child
Fever, inability to bear weight and painful restricted hip motion.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Bone Disease Hidden in a Bowed Child
Bowed legs, widened wrists and growth delay with vitamin d/calcium deficiency.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Fragile Bones and Blue Sclerae
Recurrent fractures with blue sclerae and family history in some cases.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Hand That Contracted Into the Palm
Progressive palmar fascial cords causing flexion contracture of fingers.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Thumb-Side Wrist Pain of a New Mother
Radial styloid pain with thumb movement and infant-care overuse.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →The Painful Bump at the Big Toe
Lateral deviation of great toe with painful medial eminence.
🔒 PREMIUMOpen Mystery →