Return to Play After Intra-articular Knee Fractures

The knee consists of three articulations: lateral tibiofemoral, medial tibiofemoral, and patellofemoral (Standring 2005). As a weight-bearing joint, the knee is prone to injury both during daily activities and in sports. Injuries to the knee are especially prevalent in contact sports, such as soccer, basketball, volleyball, hockey, and American football. According to National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) statistics from 1988–1989 to 2003–2004, more than 50% of all injuries involved the lower extremity (Hootman et al. 2007). In an epidemiological study of elite male football players from 2001 to 2013, 45% of traumatic fractures and 86% of stress fractures affected the lower extremity (Larsson et al. 2016). In a Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) study, the incidence of knee injuries among professional football players between 2001 and 2008 was reported to be 18% (Ekstrand et al. 2011). The knee was also the most frequent site of lower body injury (33%) during the IIHF Ice Hockey World Junior Championships between 2006 and 2015 (Tuominen et al. 2017).