Differential Diagnosis of a Soft Tissue Mass in the Calf

Maria Constantinou, Bill Vicenzino

DOI: 10.2519/jospt.2005.0814

This resident’s case problem describes the diagnosis and treatment of a 22-year-old patient who presented with calf pain secondary to a soft tissue mass. The paper stresses the importance of physical therapists’ awareness of differential diagnoses of presentations of unusual muscular masses prior to treating patients. As this case demonstrated, physical therapists may need to refer patients to medical diagnostic specialists or surgeons for further investigations when diagnoses are clinically unclear. Further, when considering differential diagnoses for calf pain and/or masses, physical therapists should include the presence of hemangioma as a possible diagnosis and most importantly be aware that the definitive diagnosis of a hemangioma can only be made through histological analysis of biopsied tissue. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 35(2):88-94. Key Words: differential diagnosis, hemangioma, primary care

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