ABSTRACT
A 31-year-old man presented complaining of severe low back pain and an ache in the right groin. He said this developed following a fall down a flight of stairs earlier that morning. He gave a complicated past history. As a child he had a perforated appendix and peritonitis. Ten years ago, he had been involved in a serious road traffic accident where he had been trapped in his vehicle. A tracheostomy had been performed, following which he had been extricated from the car. Further investigation, he said, had shown that he had a ruptured spleen and a fractured lumbar spine. He made a full recovery from his injuries. He mentioned that he is allergic to aspirin-like drugs.
