Identifying Meaningful Patient Outcomes After Lower Extremity Injury, Part 1: Patient Experiences During Recovery

Determining meaningful aspects of health is crucial for outcome assessment; however, limited literature exists on the aspects of health that are deemed meaningful by the athletic patient population.

To identify experiences and meaningful outcomes after lower extremity (LE) musculoskeletal injury among collegiate athletes.

Qualitative study.

University laboratory.

A purposive sample of 20 athletes (10 men, 10 women; age = 20.1 ± 1.83 years) from a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I institution in the Midwest who had sustained an LE injury.

Semistructured face-to-face interviews and inductive data analysis were conducted. Trustworthiness of the data was established using member checks and peer debriefing.

Four themes emerged from the data, revealing that physical changes, psychological changes, personal and lifestyle changes, and support were the most meaningful outcomes among athletes with an LE injury. The 4 themes were associated with 21 subthemes, indicating the complexity with which LE injury affects individuals.

Our findings demonstrate the importance of caring for the whole person. Athletic trainers must broaden their focus to provide the best patient care and consider the person's activities and life demands outside of athletic participation. The themes identified in this study provide a basis for selecting appropriate health markers and outcome measures.