Return to sports activity by athletes after treatment of spondylolysis

Table 1 Outcomes of five studies

Investigator, yr	Study design	No. of cases	Mean age (yr)	Subjects	Treatment	Percentage of athletes who returned	Interval until to return
Sys et al[12], 2001	Retrospective	28	17.2	Highly competitive athletes	Conservative (Boston Overlap Brace)	89.3	5.5 mo
Iwamoto et al[13], 2004	Retrospective	40	20.7	Various levels of athletes	Conservative (rest and anti-lordotic brace)	87.5	5.4 mo
Reitman et al[14], 2002	Retrospective	4	17.8	High school and collegiate athletes	Surgery (screw fixation with bone graft)	100	< 1 yr
Debnath et al[15], 2003	Prospective	22	20.2	Young athletes	Surgeries (wire fixation or screw fixation with bone graft)	81.9	7 mo
Nozawa et al[16], 2003	Retrospective	20	23.7	Athletes	Surgery (segmental wire fixation)	100	No information