Return to sports activity by athletes after treatment of spondylolysis

To clarify the efficacy of conservative and surgical treatment of spondylolysis in athletes.

PubMed was used to perform a search of the literature for studies published during the period from 1990 to 2009 that reported data on the outcome of conservative or surgical treatment of spondylolysis in athletes. The articles were examined for data on the percentage of athletes who returned to sports activities and the interval between the start of treatment and their return.

Five studies were identified. Two studies were concerned with conservative treatment and the other three with surgical treatment (wire fixation or screw fixation with bone graft). The percentages of athletes who returned to sports activities ranged from 80.0% to 89.3% and from 81.9% to 100%, respectively, and the intervals until their return ranged from 5.4 to 5.5 mo and from 7 to 12 mo, respectively.

The percentages of athletes who returned to sports activities after conservative and surgical treatment appeared to be satisfactory, but the interval until their return to sports activities was longer after surgery than after conservative treatment.