title: Return to Play After Forearm and Hand Injuries in the National Basketball Association.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hand injuries can result in significant time away from competition for professional basketball players. Time to return to play after hand injuries in elite athletes has not been well described.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To report the return to play from metacarpal fractures, phalangeal fractures, and thumb ligament tears in National Basketball Association (NBA) players over a 5-year period.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive epidemiology study.
  
  
  METHODS
  The NBA transaction report was analyzed from January 2009 to May 2014. Players were identified if they were added to the inactive list (IL), missed games due to their injury, or underwent surgery as a result of hand injury. Number of games missed due to injury, days spent on the IL, and age at injury were calculated by injury type and location.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred thirty-seven injuries were identified: 39 injuries to the hand and 98 injuries to the finger. Three major injury patterns were identified and analyzed: metacarpal fractures (n = 26), phalangeal fractures (n = 33), and thumb ligament tears (n = 9). The type of injury sustained affected return to play (P< .05). All thumb ligament tears required surgery and had the longest return to play of 67.5 ± 17.7 days (P< .05). The return to play for surgically treated metacarpal fractures (56.7 ± 26.3 days) was significantly greater than nonsurgically treated metacarpal fractures (26.3 ± 12.1 days;P< .01). Return to play for surgically repaired phalangeal fractures (46.2 ± 10.8 days) trended greater but was not significantly different than phalangeal fractures treated nonsurgically (33.3 ± 28.5 days;P= .21).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hand injuries in professional basketball players can lead to prolonged periods of time away from competition, especially after surgery. This study provides guidelines on expected return to play in the NBA after these common hand injuries.
authors.affiliation: Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Kyle W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Morse
authors.affiliation: Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Krystle A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Hearns
authors.affiliation: Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Michelle Gerwin
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Carlson
keywords: basketball; elite athlete; hand injury; return to play