Surgical intervention for athletes with Lisfranc injuries likely allows for return to sport

LONG BEACH, Calif. — According to study findings presented here, athletes who require surgical intervention for the treatment of Lisfranc injuries are typically able to return to sport.

“Average discomfort [is] 1.3 years post-injury and fixation,” Kirk A. McCullough, MD, said during his presentation at the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society Annual Meeting.

McCullough and colleagues reviewed medical data from 29 football players at the elite levels (4 collegiate, 25 NFL) who were treated by one of the study authors for a Lisfranc injury between 2000 and 2013. Imaging studies, operative reports and NFL information were also analyzed. Metrics evaluated included patient age, team, position, seasons and games played both pre- and post-injury, games started, date and laterality of injury, injury pattern, type of field on which the injury occurred, type of treatment undertaken, complications and any subsequent procedures.

Kirk A. McCullough

Return to sport (RTS) was defined as time from injury to return to participation in either pre-season or regular season games. All athletes who required surgical intervention were treated with open reduction and internal fixation.

The ratio of Lisfranc injuries that could be treated non-operatively to those that required surgical intervention was 4:25. In addition to the four athletes treated non-operatively, RTS was observed in all college athletes and 17 NFL players (81%) who underwent surgical intervention at an average of 10 months postoperatively.

Although complete data evaluating individual performance of these players post-injury will be reported in a future study, McCullough noted of the NFL players who underwent surgical intervention, “three of them were able to obtain Pro Bowl status post-injury.” – by Christian Ingram

Reference:

McCullough KA. Lisfranc injury in the elite football athlete. Presented at: American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society Annual Meeting; July 15-18, 2015; Long Beach, Calif.

Disclosure: McCullough reports no relevant financial disclosures.