Sports involving repetitive overhead throwing, particularly baseball, create significant clinical challenges for the sports medicine physician. Given the nature of the sport and the biomechanics of the upper extremity, most injuries in baseball pitchers involve the shoulder and elbow. Understanding and properly caring for injuries in the overhead throwing athlete extends beyond orthopedic sports medicine; it addresses a public health concern. Improving our understanding of pitching biomechanics, developing adaptive changes in the upper extremity, and a better understanding of injury mechanisms will allow us to prevent shoulder and elbow injuries.
Assessing athletes, particularly collegiate athletes in the preseason, has become an integral part of collegiate programs. Using these preseason data, along with pitch count and injury data, may allow us to identify factors that predispose them to injury. In turn, we can use this understanding to design screening and/or training programs to mitigate the risk of injury to these athletes.
During the 2010-2017 baseball seasons at Stony Brook University, data were collected from the collegiate pitchers. These data included shoulder range of motion, injury reports, and pitch counts. Retrospectively, we have been able to determine the incidence of shoulder and elbow injuries, assess the amount of physical activity of each subject through pitch counts, review each pitcher’s preseason physical exam and range of motion, and compare pitcher’s injuries with preseason assessments and pitch counts in order to identify risk factors. A correlation has been found between loss of glenohumeral internal rotation and increased incidence of an upper extremity injury, which has been well documented in multiple other studies. We hope to be able to prove the usefulness of preseason screening of collegiate pitchers in order to decrease the risk of injury of the athlete during the season.
