Hockey players can return to same level of play after microfracture surgery of the hip

Arthroscopic microfracture surgery in the hip does not appear to hinder the ability of professional hockey players to return to pre-injury levels of play, according to results of a recently presented study.

John E. McDonald, MD, shared his team’s findings at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine.

“Discrete chondral defects of the acetabulum and femoral head are potentially morbid injuries to an elite-level athlete,” McDonald said. “Data does exist documenting return to play at an elite level following arthroscopic management of these lesions, however little data exists in the literature regarding the performance of these athletes once they return to play.”

Study cohort and controls

McDonald and his team followed 17 professional hockey players who underwent arthroscopic microfracture surgery between 2003 and 2009 for Outerbridge grade IV chondral lesions of either the acetabulum or femoral head, as well as any concomitant procedures for labral pathology or femoroacetabular impingement.

Measures used to determine impact upon performance included performance data during the first full seasons before and after the index procedure. The researchers collected the same data for two control players per subject, matching this control cohort by age, years in the league and games played. Data were collected at two points 2 years apart, McDonald reported.

Impact on performance

According to the results, 14 of 17 players in the study (82%) returned to professional competition, with no statistical differences between the treatment and control groups for preoperative and postoperative performance measures. The authors did note a trend toward a decrease in postoperative points and games played in the microfracture group compared with the control group, but this finding was not significant.

“There is a tendency for a decreased performance in the league in general at this age and stage in a player’s career,” McDonald said. “Our players had that, but compared to the matched controls they were very similar. These players can return to play with virtually the same pre-injury performance and can perform as well as matched controls. The addition of microfracture does not appear to affect performance in the setting of labral treatment.”

Reference:

McDonald JE, Philippon MJ, Herzog M, Briggs KK. Performance levels in professional hockey players following arthroscopic microfracture surgery in the hip. Paper #44-10258. Presented at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine. July 7-10. San Diego.

Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.

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