Return-to-play rates high for NFL linemen following lumbar discectomy

Eighty percent of National Football League linemen were able to return to play after undergoing a lumbar discectomy, according to a study published online in The American Journal of Sports Medicine.

Joseph Weistroffer

The study is an effort to fill some of the gaps in the literature concerning the clinical outcomes for high-end athletes after surgery on a herniated disc. According to a Northwestern University press release, National Football League (NFL) linemen are among the most susceptible to injury in the knees and spine.

“The numbers show they were able to get back to the extreme and sustained activity of playing football on an NFL level,” study author Joseph Weistroffer, MD, stated in the release. “That’s significant.”

Using published protocols and multiple sources of the public record, the study identified NFL offensive and defensive linemen diagnosed with a lumbar disc herniation. Demographic and statistical performance data were compiled for each player before and after treatment.

The study identified 66 linemen – 36 offensive and 30 defensive players — who met the inclusion criteria. Fifty-two of the linemen were treated operatively, and the rest were treated nonoperatively. Average BMI for the linemen was 35.4, and average age was 27.6 years.

The investigators reported that 80.8% of the players treated operatively returned to play an average of 33 games during 3 years, with 63.5% becoming starter players after their treatment. Conversely, they noted, 28.6% of the linemen who underwent nonoperative treatment successfully returned to play.

Of the linemen in the surgical cohort, 13.5% required revision decompression; with 85.7% of these players successfully returning to play.

The authors concluded that since linemen requiring revision decompression displayed an 85.7% rate of successful return to play, their cohort should not be denied surgical treatment after recurrent issues. They also cautioned that the methodology used in the study does not take into account a comparison of treatment effects and, furthermore, makes no determination of the long-term prognosis for the athletes following their retirement.

References:
Weistroffer JK, Hsu WK. Return-to-play rates in National Football League linemen after treatment for lumbar disc herniation. Am J Sports Med. Published online before print Jan. 10, 2011. doi: 10.1177/0363546510388901
www.northwestern.edu/
Disclosure: No relevant disclosures have been reported.

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