Brief Article
Copyright ©2010 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
World J Orthop. Nov 18, 2010; 1(1): 26-30
Published online Nov 18, 2010. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v1.i1.26
Return to sports activity by athletes after treatment of spondylolysis
Jun Iwamoto, Yoshihiro Sato, Tsuyoshi Takeda, Hideo Matsumoto
Jun Iwamoto, Tsuyoshi Takeda, Hideo Matsumoto, Institute for Integrated Sports Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan
Yoshihiro Sato, Department of Neurology, Mitate Hospital, Fukuoka 826-0041, Japan
Author contributions: All authors contributed to this paper.
Correspondence to: Jun Iwamoto, MD, Institute for Integrated Sports Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan. jiwamoto@sc.itc.keio.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-3-33531211 Fax: +81-3-33529467
Received: August 30, 2010
Revised: October 28, 2010
Accepted: November 3, 2010
Published online: November 18, 2010
Abstract

AIM: To clarify the efficacy of conservative and surgical treatment of spondylolysis in athletes.

METHODS: PubMed was used to perform a search of the literature for studies published during the period from 1990 to 2009 that reported data on the outcome of conservative or surgical treatment of spondylolysis in athletes. The articles were examined for data on the percentage of athletes who returned to sports activities and the interval between the start of treatment and their return.

RESULTS: Five studies were identified. Two studies were concerned with conservative treatment and the other three with surgical treatment (wire fixation or screw fixation with bone graft). The percentages of athletes who returned to sports activities ranged from 80.0% to 89.3% and from 81.9% to 100%, respectively, and the intervals until their return ranged from 5.4 to 5.5 mo and from 7 to 12 mo, respectively.

CONCLUSION: The percentages of athletes who returned to sports activities after conservative and surgical treatment appeared to be satisfactory, but the interval until their return to sports activities was longer after surgery than after conservative treatment.

Keywords: Spondylolysis, Athletes, Conservative treatment, Surgical treatment, Return to play, Literature review