When can teen athletes resume normal activity?
For many teens, their chosen sport is more than just an activity to keep busy, it’s a passion, which is why many do play while still injured. However, with back injuries, that can end up causing more harm. For these teens, telling them that they can’t return to their sport could be devastating and they may not listen and choose to continue anyway. Whether to give the official go-ahead to participate in sports is controversial among doctors and other health care professionals. Some physicians, like Dr. Sucato, prefer that their patients wait 12 months before allowing them to go back to contact or collision sports. He also believes that if the injury was severe enough that was treated with surgery, the patient shouldn’t return to the sport at all. Dr. Sucato isn’t alone. A survey was done of the members of the Scoliosis Research Society and nearly half of those who responded said that they wouldn’t allow patients who had had surgery for spondylolisthesis to return to a contact sport, how
