- My Library
- 2024 Issues
- Issue 82
- The impact of wrist fractures on…
The impact of wrist fractures on long-term basketball performance
Key Points
- Various performance metrics are unchanged when returning NBA players post injury, however, win shares (WS) are significantly decreased.
BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE
Basketball is a popular sport especially in the United States. To date, much of the current literature regarding basketball pathology has focused on injury and return to play in the lower extremity (1-5). More recently, the upper extremity has been explored in relation to hand injuries (6-7). Additionally, other sports, such as football, baseball, and soccer, have all attempted to categorize the long-term performance of athletes following specific wrist injuries (8-10). However, information for basketball athletes is lacking.
The aim of this study was to present the impact of wrist joint fractures on long-term performance through the analysis of NBA players. It was hypothesised that players’ performance would significantly decline following injury, and players who required operative management would suffer a greater decline than those treated conservatively.
Even if players are likely to not return to their pre-injury maximum performance levels, some athletes are still able to contribute positively.
METHODS
Using a publicly free available database, a search for NBA players sustaining a fracture of one or more wrist joint bones (i.e. distal radius, distal ulna, carpal bones) from 2002 to 2016 was undertaken. Inclusion criteria encompassed all players who