Return-to-Sport Recommendations for Athletes With Congenital Cervical Spine Pathology: A Modified Delphi Consensus Survey of Expert Opinion
The following scenarios reached ≥70% consensus recommending athletes to return to high impact/high frequency sports: C1 ring anomaly without a prior neurapraxic event, occipitalized C1, Klippel-Feil syndrome involving 1 motion segment, and asymptomatic Chiari malformation without a syrinx. In addition, consensus was reached advising athletes with congenital stenosis with 2 or more neurapraxic events not to RTS. Although consensus was not obtained in other areas, notable findings are discussed.
Authors
- Robert G. Watkins (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2785-1449)
- Susan Liew (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9805-0695)
- Steven C. Ludwig (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3962-5724)
- Andrew M. Cordover (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7422-2891)
- David O. Okonkwo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7444-2851)
- Ronald A. Lehman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5799-9885)
- Robert C. Cantu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4300-4063)
- Hank Feuer
- Scott L. Zuckerman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2951-2942)
- Vincent Mièle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7584-0088)
- Frank M. Phillips
- Gavin A Davis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8293-4496)
- Venu M. Nemani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8895-7090)
- Jacob Joseph (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8698-3412)
- Raymond Joseph Gardocki (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4230-4411)
- Nicholas Theodore (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5355-2683)
- Allan D. Levi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0713-8497)
- Jacob Jo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0424-3507)
- Gabriel A. Smith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8400-0176)
- Domagoj Coric (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8521-2691)
- Sheeraz A. Qureshi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7177-1756)
- Philip K. Louie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4787-1538)
- Andrew C. Hecht (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5228-4568)
- Christopher M. Bonfield (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9338-7579)
- Wellington K. Hsu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9086-6868)
- Grant H. Rigney
- Jeffrey P. Mullin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0640-2329)
- K. Daniel Riew (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0718-3423)
- Jay D. Turner
- Patrick Chan
- Rick C. Sasso
- Joseph C. Maroon
- Allen K. Sills (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1145-0480)
- Julian E. Bailes
- Alexander R. Vaccaro
- Myron A. Rogers
Institutions
- Northwestern University (US)
- University of Maryland, Baltimore (US)
- Hospital for Special Surgery (US)
- Rush University Medical Center (US)
- American Sports Medicine Institute (US)
- University of Maryland Medical Center (US)
- Virginia Mason Medical Center (US)
- Mount Sinai Health System (US)
- Barrow Neurological Institute (US)
- NorthShore University HealthSystem (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- University of Miami (US)
- Thomas Jefferson University (US)
- Cornell University (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Franciscan Health (US)
- Austin Hospital (AU)
- Emerson Hospital (US)
- Marina Del Rey Hospital (US)
- The Alfred Hospital (AU)
- University of Chicago (US)
- Orthopaedic Center (US)
- Cabrini Hospital (AU)
- Atrium Medical Cente (US)
- Center for Neurosciences (US)
- University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (US)
- Rothman Institute (US)
- Johns Hopkins Hospital (US)
- University School (US)
- Neurological Surgery (US)
- Austin Health (AU)
- Indiana University School of Medicine
- Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (US)
- Monash University (AU)
- Case Western Reserve University (US)
- University at Buffalo, State University of New York (US)
- Columbia University (US)
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Neurosurgery
- Published
- 2025-06-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1227/neu.0000000000003576
- Primary Topic
- Spinal Fractures and Fixation Techniques
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00