Return-to-Play Recommendations After Cervical, Thoracic, and Lumbar Spine Injuries: A Comprehensive Review

This article reviews current guidelines for returning to sports after spine injuries, focusing on different locations (cervical, thoracic, lumbar). It covers both surgical and non-surgical treatments. Standardized return-to-play guidelines exist for many sports injuries, such as ACL tears and concussions. However, there's no consensus for spine injuries due to the spine's complexity and the variety of possible injuries. Despite the lack of specific guidelines, experts generally agree that athletes should be pain-free, neurologically normal, and have full strength and movement before returning to sports after a spinal injury.

• 1
  Return-to-play guidelines after spine injury are mostly based on expert opinions and clinical experience, not well-designed studies.
• 2
  Recommendations for return to play vary depending on the location of the injury (cervical, thoracic, lumbar), the type of sport, and whether surgery was performed.
• 3
  There is universal agreement that athletes should be pain free, completely neurologically intact, and have full strength and range of motion before returning to play after spinal injury.