Pre-existing lumbar spine pathology can lower an athlete's NFL draft chances

A cohort study showed a lumbar spine diagnosis can significantly lower an athlete’s career longevity and performance in the NFL.

SAN FRANCISCO — College athletes who enter the NFL draft may see reduced chances to be drafted if they were previously diagnosed with spondylosis, a herniated lumbar disc or spondylolysis, according to findings from a study presented at the North American Spine Society Annual Meeting, here.

There is an existing link to lumbar spine diagnosis and a player’s career longevity or performance, according to Gregory D. Schroeder, MD, who presented the findings.

“When we looked at the effect a lumbar diagnosis had on them being drafted, they were clearly downgraded. Overall, there was a statistically significant decrease in the likelihood of them being drafted, and this was also true for every one of the top three diagnoses,” Schroeder said. “When we looked at the overall results, the average years, games played, and games started were significantly lower in players with a lumbar spine diagnosis and there was a significant trend towards the decrease of overall career performance.”

Three main diagnoses

The cohort study analyzed the results of medical evaluations and imaging reports of athletes from one NFL franchise who participated in the NFL combine from 2003 to 2011. All players were evaluated for a pre-existing lumbar diagnosis. The diagnoses were compiled from injury and medical records, which included radiographic and imaging reports.

Schroeder and colleagues included more than 2,960 athletes who were evaluated from the NFL combine in the study, 414 of whom were identified as having a pre-existing lumbar spine diagnosis.

“We went through the medical evaluations and imaging reports of all players who went to the NFL combine over 8 years. We identified 414 players who had a pre-existing lumbar spine diagnosis, with the top three being degenerative spondylosis, a herniated disc and spondylolysis with or without a slip,” he said.

Two hundred fifty-three of these athletes were eventually drafted into the NFL.

More without lumbar issues drafted

Schroeder and colleagues analyzed the careers of these athletes and compared them to athletes who played similar positions but did not have a lumbar spine diagnosis.

“When we break it down by the top three diagnoses, you will see there was a decrease in average years played for all three diagnoses, but only the spondylolysis reached a statistical significance. This was similar for average games played. When we look at average games started, you see a decrease for all of the lumbar spine groups, but none of them reached a statistical significance. The average performance score decreased in the patients with lumbar spine diagnosis, but did not reach a statistical significance,” he said.

The investigators found defensive backs were more prone to these lumbar injuries than players in other positions, according to Schroeder.

This study was also the first to report on the first two NFL athletes who had a lumbar fusion and went on to play in the NFL. Both of those athletes played for a significant period of time and both had a CT scan that demonstrated solid fusion prior to the draft, he said.

“A pre-existing lumbar spine diagnosis is associated with a significantly lower draft status. Despite the fact that they are already being downgraded, when you match them to round drafted controls, they still have a significantly worse career longevity and career performance, indicating they are probably not being downgraded enough,” Schroeder said.

He noted that more specifically, spondylosis in defensive backs was a poor prognosis factor. – by Robert Linnehan