Abstract
Context: Ankle injuries are common at all levels of American football, and retired National Football League (NFL) players have a high prevalence of osteoarthritis (OA), but little is known about how ankle injuries influence OA prevalence and daily activities in this population or how surgical interventions for such injuries alter the risk of OA. Objective: To examine (1) the association of ankle-injury history with OA prevalence, (2) the association of surgical intervention after ankle injury with OA prevalence, and (3) the relationships among ankle injuries, reported OA, and daily activities in retired NFL players. Design: Case-control study. Setting: Survey. Patients or Other Participants: Data from the Retired NFL Players General Health Survey. Main Outcome Measure(s): We created a 7-category main exposure variable that differentiated respondents by football-related ankle injury and surgical intervention. Multivariable binomial regression models were used to estimate prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Among those reporting OA, we examined the distribution of responses regarding whether OA affected daily activities. Results: Among the 2446 respondents, 920 participants experienced OA in any joint during their lifetime. Compared with those reporting no ankle injuries, the prevalence of OA was higher among those with a history of ankle injury. Also, the prevalence of OA was higher among those who had undergone surgery versus those who had not. The number of retired NFL players who reported that OA often affected their daily activities increased with the number of ankle injuries. Conclusions: Among former NFL players, a history of ankle injury increased the prevalence of OA. More ankle injuries increased the probability that OA negatively affected daily activities. Future prospective research is needed to better determine the influence of surgical intervention at the ankle or foot on OA.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1165-1170 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Journal of Athletic Training |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue number | 11 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2019 Nov |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We acknowledge the support of the Matthew A. Gfeller Sport-Related Traumatic Brain Injury Research Center (Chapel Hill, NC), the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes (Chapel Hill, NC), and the NFL Players Association (Washington, DC). The Matthew A. Gfeller Sport-Related Traumatic Brain Injury Research Center and the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes are funded by private donations and various grant funding agencies interested in understanding the late-life consequences and benefits of playing sports. Kevin M. Guskiewicz, PhD, ATC, FNATA, FACSM, has declared the following potential conflicts of interest and sources of funding: Matthew A. Gfeller Sport-Related Traumatic Brain Injury Research Center, the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes, and the NFL Players Association. Stephen W. Marshall, PhD, has declared the following potential conflicts of interest and sources of funding: the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes and its associated studies are funded in part by the NFL Players Association, NFL Charities, and several foundations and corporations such as the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (Overland Park, KS), Medtronic (Dublin, Ireland), and Martek Biosciences Corp (Columbia, MD). This study was not funded solely by any one of these entities. Dr Marshall was partly supported by award R49/ CE14002479 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control to the University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center.
Publisher Copyright:
© by the National Athletic Trainers' Association, Inc
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
- Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation