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Return to play after all-inside meniscal repair in competitive football players: a minimum 5-year follow-up

  • Sports Medicine
  • Published:
Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy Aims and scope

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to report the mid-to-long-term return to sports after all-inside meniscal repair in competitive football players.

Methods

All football players undergoing all-inside meniscal repair with a minimum Tegner activity score of 9 and minimum follow-up of 5 years were eligible for inclusion. Patients were excluded if: (a) they had ipsilateral or contralateral: meniscectomy, posterior cruciate ligament tear, multi-ligament knee injuries, osteotomies, or meniscal transplant (b) they had meniscal tears in the anterior horn, and (c) they had bucket-handle tears. All patients included were contacted by phone and asked for current sport status or Tegner score. Preoperative Tegner scores were collected from the medical charts.

Results

All patients (n = 29) were men with a median (range) age of 27 (18–37) years and a follow-up of 6 (5–8) years. All meniscal injuries were complete and longitudinal tears. The median preinjury Tegner activity score was 9 (range 9–10). Two patients required revision arthroscopy (6.7 %) with partial meniscectomy before being able to return to competitive football due to suture failure. Twenty-six patients (89.6 %) returned to the same level of competition after recovering from surgery. At the last follow-up, 13 patients (45 %) were able to continue playing football at any level, and 8 (28 %) of them were able to return to the same pre-injury competitive level. The main reasons for the decreased level of activity (from competitive to recreational) or to give up football were job-related or changes in their personal life situation, but were not related to knee or meniscal disorders. Fourteen patients underwent meniscal repair alone, whereas 15 patients had an associated ACL reconstruction procedure. There were no significant differences in the collected variables between both subgroups.

Conclusions

All-inside meniscal repair allows for excellent results with regard to return-to-play rates in competitive football. However, only half of the patients are still playing football in the mid-to-long-term follow-up, although reasons to give up football are not related to knee or meniscal disorders.

Level of evidence

Case series, Level-IV.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mutualidad de Futbolistas, Federación Española de Fútbol - Delegación Cataluña, Ronda Sant Pere 19-21, 08010, Barcelona, Spain

    Pedro Alvarez-Diaz, Federico Llobet, Nelson Granados, Gilbert Steinbacher & Ramón Cugat

  2. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, Parc de Salut Mar, Hospital del Mar & Hospital de l’Esperança, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB), Barcelona, Spain

    Eduard Alentorn-Geli

  3. Departamento de Ortopedia y Traumatología, Hospital Calderón Guardia, Barrio Aranuez, San José, Costa Rica

    Federico Llobet

  4. Fundación García-Cugat, Barcelona, Spain

    Pedro Alvarez-Diaz & Ramón Cugat

  5. Artroscopia gc, S.L., Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hospital Quirón, Barcelona, Spain

    Pedro Alvarez-Diaz & Ramón Cugat

  6. Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

    Pedro Alvarez-Diaz

Authors
  1. Pedro Alvarez-Diaz
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  2. Eduard Alentorn-Geli
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  3. Federico Llobet
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  4. Nelson Granados
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  5. Gilbert Steinbacher
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  6. Ramón Cugat
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Correspondence to Pedro Alvarez-Diaz.

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Alvarez-Diaz, P., Alentorn-Geli, E., Llobet, F. et al. Return to play after all-inside meniscal repair in competitive football players: a minimum 5-year follow-up. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 24, 1997–2001 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-014-3285-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-014-3285-x

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