Table 3

Return to sport and career longevity in included studies

StudyRTS criteriaRTS (%)Comparator differenceRTS at previous level (%)Time to RTSCareer longevity
Surgical treatment only (athletes vs matched non-athletes)
Mochida, et al32NRAthletes:

  • 19/30 (63%) at 1 year

  • 15/30 (50%) >2 years

  • 7/30 (23%) had re-operation

Non-Athletes:

  • 32/42 (76%) at 1 year

  • 31/42 (74%)

  • >2 years

  • 6/42 (14%) had re-operation

(p=0.38) at >2 yearsNR3 months or more21% athletes abandoned sport within 2 years
Surgical treatment only (athletes vs labourers)
Matsunaga, et al33NRAthletes:

  • 13/15 (87%)

Labourers:

  • 30/51 (58%)

p=0.05NR7.5 weeks athletes; 9 weeks labourersNR
Surgical treatment only (athletes only)
Sakou et al34NR10/13 (77%)
4/13 (31%) had re-operation		NA5/13 (38%)1–6 monthsNR
Savage and Hsu37Participation in at least 1 play during the regular season17/23 (74%)
2/23 (9%) had re-operation		NARTS % NR
No difference in PR per game before and after LD (P=0.76)		NRAverage of 36 games over 4.1 years
Watkinsand Williams35NR53/60 (88%)NANR5.2 monthsNR
Watkins, et al36Participation in at least 1 min of a regular season game67/75 (89%)NANR5.8 monthsNR
Yoshimoto, et al29NR19/23 (83%)
0% Re-operation rate		NA15/23 (65%)2.8 monthsNR
Surgical vs conservative treatment (athletes only)
Earhart, et al30On active NFL roster for 1 regular season gameSurgical:

  • 39/40 (98%)

Conservative:

  • 28/29 (97%)

(p=0.82)RTS % NR
Surgical:

  • Poorer performance in certain categories 1–3 years post

Conservative:

  • No changes in performance following treatment

Surgical (8.7 months) required more time for RTS than conservative group(3.6 months) (p<0.001)Games:

  • Surgical (233 games) was less than (p=0.08) conservative group (432 games)

Months played:

  • Surgical group same as (p=0.77) conservative group

Hsu26RTS in 1 NFL gameSurgical:

  • 75/96 (78%)

  • 8.3% re-operation rate

Conservative:

  • 20/34 (59%)

(p=0.26)No difference in performance scores pretreatment and post-treatment for either group; no differences between groupsNRConservative group played more seasons (p=0.01)
Post-treatment career length was greater for surgical group (p<0.03)
Surgical group:
played 36 games over 3.1 years vs 18 games over 2 years for the conservative group (p=0.002)
Months played:
Surgical: 37 months
Conservative: 24 months(p<0.03)
Hsu, et al27Return to 1 professional gameSurgical:

  • 184/226 (81%)

Conservative:

  • 97/116 (84%)

(p=0.61)NRNRSurgical:

  • 3.3 years

Conservative:

  • 3.5 years

Schroeder, et al28On active NFL roster for 1 gameSurgical:

  • 38/48 (79%)

Conservative:

  • 28/31 (90%)

(p=0.36)RTS % NR
No difference in performance score (p=0.92) between groups		NR136 games (2.7 years) for both groups, no difference (p>0.05) between groups
Weistroffer and Hsu31On active NFL roster for 1 gameSurgical:

  • 42/52 (81%)

Conservative:

  • 4/14 (29%)

  • 7/52 (14%) had re-operation

(p<0.05)Surgical:

  • 33/52 (63%)

Conservative:

  • NR

NRSurgical:

  • 33 games over 3 years

Conservative:

  • 5 games over 1.2 years

Surgical treatment vs control group (matched asymptomatic athletes without intervention)
Anakwenze, et al25NRSurgical:

  • 18/24 (75%)

Matched Asymptomatics:

  •  42/48 (88%)

(p=0.18)NR1 season after surgeryNR
Wang, et al14NRSurgical:

  • 9/14 (64%)

Matched Asymptomatics:

  •  NR

NANRNRNR

  • LD, lumbar discectomy; NA, not applicable; NBA, National Basketball Association; NFL, National Football League; NHL, National Hockey League; NR, not reported; PR, power rating; RTS, return to sport.