SynthesisSports health
Return to Play After Symptomatic Lumbar Disc Herniation in Elite Athletes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Operative Versus Nonoperative Treatment.
Synthesis in Sports health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
What it found
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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
17 citing papers in PubMed, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Transforaminal Endoscopic Lumbar Discectomy Under Local Anesthesia for Small-Sized Lumbar Disc Herniation in Elite Athletes.International journal of spine surgery · 2026Article
- Endoscopic Lumbar Discectomy in Professional Athletes: A Case Series and Structured Rehabilitation Protocol Enabling Rapid Return to Play.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2026Article
- Surgical Management of Lumbar Disc Herniation in Elite Athletes: A Comparative Study of Microdiscectomy and Endoscopic Lumbar Discectomy.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2026Article
- Risk factors and prediction model for recurrence after unilateral dual-channel spinal endoscopy in patients with lumbar disc herniation.BMC surgery · 2026Article
- Successful Return to Elite Competition following a Foraminal Block for Minimal Far-lateral Disc Herniation at L5-S1: A Report of 2 Cases.NMC case report journal · 2026Article
- Chiropractic management of L5-S1 disc protrusion in an elite speed skater: a case report.The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association · 2025Article
- Adolescent lumbar disc herniation: etiology, diagnosis, and treatment options.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2025Review
- [Sport after disc herniation].Orthopadie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2024Review
- Hight return-to-sport rate following traumatic spine injury in amateur athletes.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2024Article
- The Impact of Spine Injuries on Amateur Athletes: An Exploratory Analysis of Sport-Related Patient-Reported Outcomes.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Return to sports following discectomy: does a consensus exist?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 · 2024Article
- Return-to-Play Outcomes of Athletes After Operative and Nonoperative Treatment of Lumbar Disc Herniation.Current reviews in musculoskeletal medicine · 2023Review
- Return-to-Sport Rate, Type of Sport, Frequency of Participation, and Patient Satisfaction After Elective Spinal Surgery in the Elderly Population.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2023Article
- Impact of Lumbar Disk Herniation on Performance Outcomes and New Contracts in the National Football League.Clinical spine surgery · 2023Article
- Looking Back.Sports healthArticle
- The Team Doc and Injury Care.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
6 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
contextThe prevalence of symptomatic lumbar disc herniation (LDH) in athletes can be as high as 75%. For elite athletes diagnosed with LDH, return to play (RTP) is a major concern, and thus comparing surgical with nonoperative care is essential to guide practitioners and athletes, not just in terms of recovery rates but also speed of recovery.
objectiveThe purpose of this systematic review is to provide an update on RTP outcomes for elite athletes after lumbar discectomy versus nonoperative treatment of LDHs. DATA SOURCES: A search of the literature was conducted using 3 online databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PubMed) to identify pertinent studies. STUDY SELECTION: Yielded studies were screened according to the inclusion criteria. STUDY
designSystematic review with meta-analysis. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level 4. DATA EXTRACTION: Relevant data were extracted. A meta-analysis was performed comparing RTP rate for all comparative studies.
resultsTwenty studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. Overall, 663 out of 799 patients (83.0%) returned to play in the surgical group and 251 out of 308 patients (81.5%) returned to play in the nonoperative group. No statistically significant difference for RTP rate was found (odds ratio, 1.39; 95% CI, 0.58-3.34;
conclusionThere was no significant difference in RTP rate between athletes treated with operative or nonoperative management of LDHs, nor did operative management have a faster time to RTP. Athletes should consider the lack of difference in RTP rate in addition to the potential risks associated with spinal surgery when choosing a treatment option. Future randomized controlled trials are needed on this topic to allow for high-powered conclusions.
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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.