Introduction:

Musculoskeletal injuries related to work are extremely common, often resulting from workplace accidents. The knowledge of occupational diseases and injuries by the Occupational Health Physician is crucial for Occupational Medicine. This clinical case describes a 37-year-old male patient who sought Emergency Services due to a fall from stairs with right knee trauma involving hyperflexion during work. The diagnosis confirmed a complete rupture of the patellar tendon. With this clinical case, it was made a review of the literature about occupational and personal risk factors for patellar tendon rupture; as to investigate whether the literature describes any sequelae of the injury that may result in work limitations.

Methods:

A non-systematic literature review was conducted using the PubMed database with the keywords "Patellar tendon; knee injury; outcome; patellar tendon repair." Two articles not included in this filter were added for their relevance to the topic. Out of 56 articles published as systematic reviews and classic reviews between 2002 and 2022, a total of 23 articles were selected through the reading of abstracts. Exclusion criteria included bilateral rupture of the patellar tendon, studies exclusively focused on patellar tendon rupture in a sports context, and approaches to new surgical techniques. After reading these bibliographic sources, seven were used in the discussion of this clinical case.

Results:

Patellar tendon rupture is an uncommon and disabling injury with a higher incidence in men under 40 years old. In cases of total tendon rupture, surgical intervention is necessary to restore the extensor mechanism's functionality. Various authors have described potential predisposing conditions for patellar tendon rupture, such as the use of corticosteroids and fluoroquinolones, diabetes, rheumatic disease, Lyme disease and microtrauma. Most described cases are sports-related injuries. The relationship with occupational risk factors is not clear, except for professional athletes. Repetitive microtrauma is one of the main causes of patellar tendinopathy, which can lead to patellar tendon rupture and is defined as "overuse pathology," present in professions such as floor installers.

Conclusion:

Occupational medicine plays a relevant role in reintegrating workers after a workplace accident. Understanding the epidemiology, identifying injury mechanisms, treatment and prognosis of this pathology is important not only for preventing future workplace accidents but also for adapting the worker's return to their job.

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