ArticleSports health
Outcomes After Lumbar Disc Herniation in the National Basketball Association.
Article in Sports health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Return to sports after lumbar disc herniation surgery: a survey of German surgeons and postoperative patient experiences.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026Article
- Spine Injuries in the NBA: Return to Play Expectations After a Seasonal Injury.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2026Review
- Evaluating Performance Among National Basketball Association Players After Jones Fractures: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2024Article
- Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Did Not Substantially Impact Injury Patterns or Performance of Players in the National Basketball Association From 2016 to 2021.Arthroscopy, sports medicine, and rehabilitation · 2024Article
- Impact of Lumbar Disk Herniation on Performance Outcomes and New Contracts in the National Football League.Clinical spine surgery · 2023Article
- Return-to-Play Outcomes of Athletes After Operative and Nonoperative Treatment of Lumbar Disc Herniation.Current reviews in musculoskeletal medicine · 2023Review
- Epidemiology and injury trends in the National Basketball Association: Pre- and per-COVID-19 (2017-2021).PloS one · 2022Article
- Systematic Review of Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Injuries and Treatment Outcomes in Women's National Basketball Association and National Basketball Association Players.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2021Review
- The Effect of an Arthroscopic Orthopaedic Procedure on a Professional Tennis Player's Career.Cureus · 2019Article
- Lumbar Spine Injuries in Sports: Review of the Literature and Current Treatment Recommendations.Sports medicine - open · 2019Review
- Intervertebral disc herniation in elite athletes.International orthopaedics · 2019Review
- Epidemiology of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury in Italian First Division Soccer Players.Sports healthArticle
- Article
- Epidemiology and Impact on Performance of Lower Extremity Stress Injuries in Professional Basketball Players.Sports healthArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundProfessional basketball players are at risk for lumbar disc herniation (LDH), yet the evidence guiding treatment after operative or nonoperative management of this condition in the National Basketball Association (NBA) is limited. HYPOTHESIS: NBA players with LDH will have different performance outcomes based on treatment type. STUDY
designCase-control study. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level 4.
methodsAthletes in the NBA with an LDH were identified through team injury reports, transaction records, and public sports archives. A 1:2 case-control study was performed in which LDH players and players without LDH were matched for player variables. Statistical analysis was employed to compare pre- and postindex season performance (games played and player efficiency rating [PER]) and career longevity between test subjects and controls in the operatively treated (OT) and nonoperatively treated (NOT) cohorts.
resultsA total of 61 NBA players with LDH were included, of whom 34 underwent discectomy and 27 were managed nonoperatively. Return-to-play (RTP) rates did not differ between NOT and OT players (77.8% vs. 79.4%). When compared with controls, OT players played significantly fewer games and had a lower PER than controls during the first postoperative season, but no difference was seen 2 and 3 years after surgery, with no difference in postoperative career length. In contrast, no difference in games played or PER was seen between NOT players and controls, although NOT players played significantly fewer postindex seasons.
conclusionNBA players have a high RTP rate regardless of type of treatment for LDH; however, postindex performance differs between surgically and nonoperatively managed patients when compared with players without an LDH. However, further studies with a larger sample size are required for more definitive recommendations. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: There is a high RTP rate after LDH in the NBA, although postindex performance may differ based on operative versus nonoperative treatment.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.