Current practice for safe return-to-play after lateral ankle sprain: A survey among French-speaking physicians.

Abstract Background Recommendations are available for assessment criteria for safe return-to-play (RTP) after a lateral ankle sprain. However, their current use among physicians is unknown. Methods French-speaking physicians in Belgium, France and Switzerland were asked to complete an online survey and report their clinical assessment of selected RTP criteria. Results The respondent sample (n = 109) included physicians with and without Sports Medicine education, varied level of experience and proportion of athletes in their practice population. Pain was the most selected criterion for safe RTP (90% of physicians), followed by ability to engage in functional tasks (82%), functional instability (73%), range of motion (61%), proprioception (47%), mechanical instability (39%), strength (38%) and swelling (31%). A low proportion of physicians use quantitative measures to assess these criteria (between 4% to 53%). Conclusions A large proportion of physicians consider the recommended criteria for RTP decisions. However, physicians do not frequently use quantitative measures.