Rehabilitation of athletes following spine injury.

We feel that the described system for staging cervical and lumbar spine injuries in the high-performance athlete affords a basic framework for the rehabilitation of those individuals. With spine injuries, one has to exercise care to rule out those injuries and additional pathologies presenting as neck or back pain that could result in catastrophic sequelae. We stress due diligence in the initial and continued follow-up of these patients with careful evaluation to rule out associated fractures, dislocations, and attendant disc pathology. The treatment of the "stinger" or "burner" is controversial. We suggest a conservative approach, although the orthopedic and neurologic literature reports that these individuals have been returned to full contact sports activity without documented subsequent neurologic sequelae. The final decision remains at the discretion of the treating physician. This program provides a rational approach to the rehabilitation of the spine-injured high-performance athlete that will provide for the return of him or her to preinjury activity level in an expeditious manner with the minimal period of interruption in training.