Former footballer presents with a fracture and dysphagia
The AFL veteran has back pain and several months of dysphagia. How do you proceed?
4th October 2019
By Dr Daniel Xu
Lynton is a 51-year-old retired professional AFL footballer, who presents after a sudden onset of lower back pain while gardening two days ago.
There was no precipitating trauma. The back pain has increased over the past two days and is now disturbing his sleep.
Paracetamol with codeine has provided some relief. He also complains of several months of increasing dysphagia, with food hold-up and foreign body sensation when swallowing.
He denies having ingested a foreign body like a fish or chicken bone. He is otherwise well, with no