Background: Traditional rehabilitation protocols for surgically treated metacarpal shaft fracture allow for return to play at 6-8 weeks post-operative. This may be devastating for the elite athlete. We outline a protocol that may allow for professional basketball players to successfully return to sport within four weeks following surgery.
Methods: Professional basketball players who sustained non-thumb metacarpal shaft fractures were included. All athletes underwent open reduction and internal fixation of the injured metacarpal. Patients were subsequently enrolled into an accelerated rehabilitation protocol.
Results: The five athletes in our case series successfully passed return to sport testing within four weeks of surgery.
Conclusion: A plate and screw construct can potentially allow for professional basketball players to return to play in half the time. Future research studies should include a larger pool of athletes to further investigate accelerated rehabilitation following surgical fixation of metacarpal fractures. Level of Evidence: IV.
Keywords: basketball; elite athletes; hand; metacarpal; nba; wrist.
Copyright © The Iowa Orthopaedic Journal 2022.