Return to Play Following Hand Injuries in the National Basketball Association: N/A - Not a clinical study

Abstract

Time to return to play after hand injuries in elite athletes has not been described. We report the return to play from metacarpal fractures, phalangeal fractures, and thumb ligament tears over a five-year period in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The NBA transaction report was analyzed from January 2009 to May 2014. Players were identified who were added to the injured list (IL), missed games due to injury, or underwent surgery for a hand injury. Games missed, days spent on the IL, and age at injury were calculated by injury type and location. Associations between position and injury type were analyzed using Chi-square tests. Independent samples t-tests were used to compare return to play between surgically treated and non-surgically treated injuries. Welch’s Robust ANOVA with Games-Howell correction was used to compare return to play between injury type and position. A Pearson correlation was used to correlate age with return to play. Statistical significance was defined as P < 0.05. One hundred and thirty seven injuries were identified, including 39 hand injuries 98 finger injuries. Three frequent injuries were identified and analyzed: metacarpal fractures, phalangeal fractures, and thumb ligament tears (Table 1). Return to play was calculated from the date of injury to the date of return. Thumb ligament tears were treated surgically and had the longest return to play of 67.5±17.7 days (P < 0.05). Return to play for metacarpal fractures treated surgically (56.7±26.3 days) was significantly greater than non-surgically repaired metacarpal fractures (26.3±12.1 days, (P < 0.01). Return to play for surgically repaired phalangeal fractures (46.2±10.8 days) trended greater, but was not significantly different than phalangeal fractures that were not treated surgically (33.3±28.5 days, P > 0.05). Player position and age were not related to injury type or time to return to play (P > 0.05). •Hand injuries in professional basketball players can lead to prolonged periods of time away from competition, especially following surgery.•Thumb ligament tears resulted in the longest return to play (67.5 days) compared to phalangeal fractures and metacarpal fractures.•Return to play was twice as long for metacarpal fractures treated surgically than for metacarpal fractures treated non-surgically (56.7 vs 26.3 days), contradicting anecdotal information stating surgical fixation speeds return to play.•Return to play was not significantly different between phalangeal fractures treated surgically and those not treated surgically.•This study provides guidelines on expected return to play in the NBA for these common injuries.