Purpose: To evaluate the return-to-play rate and performance level changes in National Football
League (NFL) athletes after a surgically treated pectoralis major muscle (PMM) tear.
Methods: A descriptive epidemiologic study was conducted. All NFL players from 1933 to 2013
were reviewed for surgically treated PMM tears. Age at injury, height, weight, body
mass index, date of injury, position played, draft selection, and total seasons played
were recorded. Return to play was assessed for the entire cohort, as well as by position.
Performance analysis before and after injury was also conducted for the entire cohort,
as well as by position and draft selection. Data analysis was performed with the paired-samples
t test, with P < .05 considered statistically significant.
Results: Our review of 80 NFL seasons from 1933 to 2013 provided a total of 55 instances of
PMM tears. All instances occurred between the time frame of 2004 and 2012. After exclusions,
24 instances unique to 24 NFL athletes were confirmed by 2 separate investigators
and these athletes were included as our final study cohort. Of the 24 players identified
to have a surgically repaired PMM tear, 20 (83%) returned to play. The mean return-to-play
period was 302 ± 128 days. The mean difference in performance scores before versus
after PMM injury was 171.33 and was statistically significant, with P = .0330.
Conclusions: In this study, there was an 83% return-to-play rate after surgical repair of PMM
tears. Although we found a statistically significant decrease in player performance
after surgery, this difference was no longer seen after players were stratified by
position type and draft selection.
Level of Evidence: Level IV, therapeutic case series.
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
One-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Arthroscopy, Sports Medicine, and RehabilitationAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Pectoralis major injuries: Evaluation and treatment.Clin Sports Med. 2014; 33: 739-756
- Incidence of pectoralis major injuries has increased 40% over the last 22 National Football League seasons.Arthrosc Sports Med Rehabil. 2021; 3: e1113-e1118
- Pectoralis major injuries: Presentation, diagnosis, and management.JBJS Rev. 2021; 9
- A systematic review and comprehensive classification of pectoralis major tears.J Shoulder Elbow Surg. 2012; 21: 412-422
- Pectoralis major tendon tear: A critical analysis review.JBJS Rev. 2021; 9
- Pectoralis major tear.Treasure Island, FL2022
- Pectoralis major ruptures in professional American football players.Phys Sportsmed. 2014; 42: 131-135
- Pectoralis major ruptures in the National Football League: Incidence, RTP, and performance analysis.Orthop J Sports Med. 2021; 923259671211018707
- Performance and return to sport after sports hernia surgery in NFL players.Orthop J Sports Med. 2017; 52325967117699590
- Performance and return to sport after thumb ulnar collateral ligament surgery in National Football League players.Hand (N Y). 2019; 14: 487-493
- Outcomes of Lisfranc injuries in the National Football League.Am J Sports Med. 2016; 44: 1810-1817
- Performance and return to sport after forearm fracture open reduction and internal fixation in National Football League players.Hand (N Y). 2018; 13: 682-688
- Distal biceps ruptures in National Football League players: Return to play and performance analysis.J Shoulder Elbow Surg. 2021; 30: 1647-1652
- Relationship between preseason training load and in-season availability in elite Australian football players.Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2017; 12: 749-755
- Outcomes of NCAA defensive football players following Achilles tendon repair.Foot Ankle Int. 2020; 41: 398-402
- Impact of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction on NCAA FBS football players: Return to play and performance vary by position.Orthop J Sports Med. 2019; 72325967119841056
Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 08, 2022
Accepted:
July 25,
2022
Received:
April 28,
2022
Footnotes
The authors report the following potential conflicts of interest or sources of funding: N.G.G. receives honoraria from DJO and Arthrex. D.H.S. is a paid consultant for Zimmer Biomet and Stryker/Tornier. Full ICMJE author disclosure forms are available for this article online, as supplementary material.
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the Arthroscopy Association of North America.
User license
Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercial – NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) | How you can reuse 
Elsevier's open access license policy
Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercial – NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Permitted
For non-commercial purposes:
- Read, print & download
- Redistribute or republish the final article
- Text & data mine
- Translate the article (private use only, not for distribution)
- Reuse portions or extracts from the article in other works
Not Permitted
- Sell or re-use for commercial purposes
- Distribute translations or adaptations of the article
Elsevier's open access license policy
