Rothman provides return-to-play guidelines for athletes with cervical spine injuries
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Spine surgeons at the Rothman Orthopaedic Institute have released updated recommendations on return-to-play scenarios for collision sport athletes with cervical spine injuries, according to a company press release.
Gregory D. Schroeder, MD, Alexander R. Vaccaro, MD, PhD, MBA, and colleagues at the Rothman Orthopaedic Institute established the return-to-play (RTP) guidelines from their modified Delphi consensus study, set to publish in the October issue of Neurosurgery.
After three rounds of surveys with the Cervical Spine Research Society and NFL physicians, the researchers concluded that RTP was appropriate for asymptomatic athletes without MRI T2-signal changes following 1- and 2-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF). However, RTP was not allowed after 3-level ACDF, according to the study.
“Professional team physicians have tried to institute guidelines for players to safely return to the field after neck injuries but there is a lack of high-quality studies, and most surveys on the topic are informal,” Vaccaro, president of Rothman Orthopaedic Institute, said in the release. “Our study provides the consensus expert opinion of spine surgeons with experience treating neck injuries in collision athletes, especially American football. The topic is controversial, and randomized trials are impractical. Our results deliver updated recommendations from over 100 surgeons, and also highlights persistent areas of controversy,” he added.
“It is a strong step in the right direction. Additional formal studies that evaluate the most effective treatment plan for these injuries, and optimal timing for return-to-play are still necessary, Schroeder said. “I believe the value of our study comes not only from the update of guidelines, but also from the thorough and formal survey methodology used to reach consensus on a complex topic.”
Collapse
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts