Predictive Value of Prior Injury on Career in Professional American Football Is Affected by Player Position

• Published in: The American journal of sports medicine Vol. 37; no. 4; pp. 768 - 775
• Main Authors: Brophy, Robert H., Lyman, Stephen, Chehab, Eric L., Barnes, Ronnie P., Rodeo, Scott A., Warren, Russell F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine 01-04-2009; SAGE Publications; Sage Publications; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries; Athletic Performance; Biological and medical sciences; Cohort Studies; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Football - injuries; Humans; Joint Instability - physiopathology; Knee; Male; Medical diagnosis; Medical sciences; Orthopedics; Professional football; Sports injuries; Sports medicine; Tibial Meniscus Injuries; United States; shoulder; college football; meniscus; National Football League (NFL); anterior cruciate ligament (ACL); combine; Ergonomics; Shoulder; Predictive value; Semilunar cartilage; Career; Anterior cruciate ligament
• ISSN: 0363-5465; 1552-3365
• DOI: 10.1177/0363546508329542

Background The National Football League holds an annual combine where individual teams evaluate college football players The abstract
goes here and covers two columns. likely to be drafted for physical skills, review players’ medical history and imaging studies,
and perform a physical examination.
Purpose The purpose of this study was to test the effect of specific diagnoses and surgical procedures on the likelihood of playing
and length of career in the league by position. KEY WORDS list of key words goes here
Study Design Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.
Methods A database for all players reviewed at the annual National Football League Combine by the medical staff of 1 National Football
League team from 1987 to 2000 was created, including each player’s orthopaedic rating, diagnoses, surgical procedures, number
of games played, and number of seasons played in the National Football League. Athletes were grouped by position as follows:
offensive backfield, offensive receiver, offensive line, quarterback, tight end, defensive line, defensive secondary, linebacker,
and kicker. The percentage of athletes who played in the National Football League was calculated by position for each specific
diagnosis and surgery.
Results The effect of injury on the likelihood of playing in the league varied by position. Anterior cruciate ligament injury significantly
lowered the likelihood of playing in the league for defensive linemen ( P = .03) and linebackers ( P = .04). Meniscal injury significantly reduced the probability of playing ( P < .05) and length of career ( P = .002) for athletes in the defensive secondary. Shoulder instability had a significant effect on playing in the league for
offensive ( P = .03) and defensive linemen ( P = .02), and shortened the length of career for defensive linemen ( P = .016). Spondylolisthesis did not significantly reduce the chance of playing in the league for any position, while a history
of spondylolysis had a significant effect for running backs ( P = .01). Miscellaneous injuries (eg. acromioclavicular joint, knee medial collateral ligament, carpal fractures) had isolated
position-specific effects.
Conclusion The significant injuries and diagnoses appear congruent with the position-specific demands placed on the athletes. This information
is useful to physicians and athletic trainers caring for college football athletes as well as those assessing these athletes
at the National Football League Combine.