Version of recordOriginal research
Extensor hood injuries in elite boxers
Injury characteristics, surgical technique and outcomes
Gulraj S Matharu, Ian T Gatt, Rachel Delaney, Michael Loosemore, Michael J Hayton. 2022. Journal of Hand Surgery (European Volume).
Published in Journal of Hand Surgery (European Volume), a peer-reviewed journal
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1177/17531934221123139
Read the full text at PubMed CentralPDF filesPubMed 36112963
The medical question
Which hand injuries keep boxers from fighting, and what evidence supports their treatment and return to boxing?
The Fight Medicine Research Institute uses this evidence to frame questions about the diagnosis, surgical repair and rehabilitation of knuckle injuries in boxers and about return to competition. The study’s design, one surgeon’s case series without a comparison group, determines which questions it can inform.
Summary
One surgeon’s series of 57 operated fingers in 45 elite boxers describes the knuckle injuries found, the repair used and the return to boxing afterwards.
What the work reports
- The authors describe consecutive elite boxers who had surgery by one surgeon between 2008 and 2021 for a painful knuckle with a suspected extensor hood injury: 57 fingers in 45 patients, with data recorded prospectively.
- The middle finger (35 of 57) and index finger (15) were injured most often. A hood tear was found in 42 fingers and none in 15, a capsular tear in 16 and a pseudobursa in 20. Of the 44 patients who completed rehabilitation, 43 returned to the same level of boxing at a mean of 8 months (range 1 to 24), and one finger needed revision surgery for a re-rupture.
- The authors conclude that their technique is reproducible and that patients are able to return to boxing with little risk of complications. They note that one experienced surgeon’s results may not apply to all surgeons.
Limits to keep in mind
- This is a case series from one surgeon with no comparison group, and the article gives its level of evidence as IV.
- The authors note that the surgeon’s protocol changed over the 13 years and that some patients had short follow-up (range 0.1 to 10.9 years).
- No validated patient-reported outcome measures and no grip or pinch strength data were available.
- One patient did not complete rehabilitation, so the outcome figures cover 56 fingers in 44 patients.
Source issues recorded
- The Results and the abstract give capsular tears as 28% (16 fingers). The Discussion gives the figure for the same series as 32%. This record uses 28%.
- The article reports that 95% (n = 54) were male and that 95% (n = 54) were right-hand dominant with an orthodox stance, and it refers to 54 orthodox fighters and three southpaws. These counts add up to the 57 operated fingers, not the 45 patients, so this record does not state how many patients were men.
Publication status and notices
Published in Journal of Hand Surgery (European Volume), a peer-reviewed journal. Original research article in Journal of Hand Surgery (European Volume).
Form of this work: Version of record. The version of record is the final article as issued by its publisher.
No correction or retraction notice was found in Crossref or Europe PMC when this record was checked.
Fight Medicine Research Institute contribution
Fight Medicine Research Institute selected and catalogued this study, prepared an original research summary and a narrative review, verified its bibliographic details, and maintains the associated citation record. It holds an unmodified copy of the published article under the article’s licence.
PDF files
- Open the article (PDF): Extensor hood injuries in elite boxers
- Open the record sheet (PDF): Extensor hood injuries in elite boxers
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Article details
- Relationship
- External research catalogued by the Fight Medicine Research Institute. The original authors, journal and DOI are unchanged.
- Published online
- 15 September 2022
- Issue date
- December 2022, volume 47, issue 11
- Repository date
- 15 September 2022 (Europe PMC first-publication date)
- Date used here
- 15 September 2022 (Crossref publisher deposit, online publication date)
- Rights
- CC BY 4.0. Open access under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY 4.0), as stated by the publisher. The summary on this page is Fight Medicine Research Institute’s own wording. An unmodified copy of the published article is held on this website under this licence. Licence terms.
- Source check
- , against PubMed Central full text, Crossref and Europe PMC. Checked under the direction of Casey C. Sears, Founder. An LLM was utilized as a research tool with direct human oversight.
- Appraisal
- The check covered bibliographic details, links, licence and notices. It is not a formal critical appraisal of the full paper.
- Clinical review
- None. This record is a research summary, not clinical education.
- Funding and conflicts
- The article states no funding and no competing interests.
- Catalog
- FH-040, added
Cite the original work
These files cite the work by its own authors, journal and DOI. Fight Medicine Research Institute appears only in a note, as curator of this catalog page.
Gulraj S Matharu, Ian T Gatt, Rachel Delaney, Michael Loosemore, Michael J Hayton. Extensor hood injuries in elite boxers: injury characteristics, surgical technique and outcomes. Journal of Hand Surgery (European Volume). 2022;47(11):1162-1167. https://doi.org/10.1177/17531934221123139
Related on this website
- Fighter Health: Hand and wrist injuries