Abstract
Stress fractures of the pars interarticularis of the lumbar spine in professional fast bowlers have become commonplace in modern times with a recently reported prevalence of 16.1%. We report 25 years of experience in the management of this patient group.
Between 1982 and 2007, we diagnosed pars defects in 21 professional cricketers. 8 were managed conservatively by a combination of rest, supervised rehabilitation, bowling action analysis and re-training to a ‘safe’ action. Surgery was considered in those players who did not respond to these conservative measures and this group essentially compromised of the fast bowlers. Surgery was by Buck’s direct repair of the pars lesion.
This treatment regime has given very good results enabling all of these players to return to professional sport with an average follow-up of over 5 years. Two of the surgical group have over 10 years follow-up and 4 have played to international level subsequent to their surgery.
We recommend treatment of this group of sportsmen in a unit consisting of a specialist physiotherapist, a bowling coach and a spinal surgeon. Should conservative measures fail, we recommend Buck’s repair as the operation of choice.
The abstracts were prepared by David AF Morgan. Correspondence should be addressed to him at davidafmorgan@aoa.org.au
Declaration of interest: a
