#5-07E. The Cost of the Pitch: Accelerated Ankle Osteoarthritis in Retired Footballers (Rheumatology, 2026)

How should we approach joint pain in patients with a history of professional sports, and what are the long-term musculoskeletal consequences of a high-impact athletic career? In today's episode, we discuss a cross-sectional study comparing the prevalence of foot and ankle osteoarthritis (OA) between retired male professional footballers and general population male controls. Using both self-reported questionnaires and radiographic assessments, researchers found that former footballers have a significantly higher risk of symptomatic and radiographic foot and ankle OA, with the ankle being the predominantly affected joint. The most crucial clinical finding from this research reveals that retired footballers experience the onset of foot and ankle pain almost a decade earlier than the general population. While this underscores the severe long-term impact of repetitive microtrauma, we must critically appraise the study's potential selection bias, as the athlete cohort was recruited from a previously established knee OA study rather than a randomized sample. For physicians, this study is highly relevant as it highlights the critical need for proactive screening protocols and tailored post-career joint management strategies for former athletes in daily clinical practice.

Citation: Thanoon AA, et al. Prevalence of foot/ankle osteoarthritis and pain in retired male professional footballers compared with general population male controls: a cross-sectional study. Rheumatology. 2026. DOI: 10.1093/rheumatology/keag250

Disclaimer: This audio summary is based on personal interpretation and does not guarantee the exact content of the original paper. Please refer to the original article for details.