CME OnDemand: 2022 AOFAS Annual Meeting-Bilateral Achilles Tendon Ruptures in the NFL

Pdf Summary

Professional athletes in the NFL are at an increased risk of sustaining Achilles tendon ruptures (ATR) during play. This injury can have a significant impact on an athlete's career, with decreased return to play, playing time, and performance. The mean career length of NFL athletes is 3.3 years, so the 9-to-11-month rehabilitation period for ATR could severely limit their impact. However, there is a lack of research on the impact of bilateral ATRs on the health, productivity, and career longevity of NFL athletes.<br /><br />In this study, the authors aimed to describe a cohort of NFL athletes who sustained bilateral Achilles ruptures, their rehabilitation timeline, and their game performance outcomes. They obtained publicly available injury data for NFL athletes from 2007 to 2021 and included only athletes who had two independent, contralateral ATRs.<br /><br />The results showed that out of the six NFL athletes with bilateral ATRs, five were included in the analysis. These athletes demonstrated differences in age at the time of each rupture, a declining trend in the number of Pro Bowl nominations, and fewer forced fumbles after successive injuries.<br /><br />Overall, the study suggests that bilateral ATRs can have a negative impact on an NFL player's performance. More research is needed to further analyze the effects of bilateral ATRs on these athletes.

Asset Subtitle

Aman Chopra, Aarav S. Parekh, Deepak Ramanathan, MD, Selene G. Parekh, MD, MBA

Keywords

NFL athletes

Achilles tendon ruptures

ATR

career impact

rehabilitation period

bilateral ATRs

health

productivity

career longevity

NFL study