Little League survey: the Eugene study

Abstract

In a clinical and radiographic survey of the elbows of 120 pitchers ages 11 and 12, 20% were found to have symptoms, 10% flexion contractures, and 23% roentgenographic changes related to traction stresses on the medial side of the elbow. Five per cent had more serious lateral compression findings related to the radial head or capitellum, but none of these had symptoms. Although this represents a definite incidence of abnormal occurrence, there were no statistically significant correlations or interrelations found relating to pitching experience, valgus elbow deformities, symptoms, flexion contractures, or x-ray findings.

Baseball Injuries

“…Overall, the rates of injury in youth and high school baseball are lower than other sports played by children and adolescents, but they still represent a significant cause of injury and potential long-term disability among the participants [18], particularly among pitchers [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28].…”

“…Furthermore, continued overuse is believed to eventually result in serious injury or arm-related disability in some pitchers [18]. Table 2 summarizes the findings of studies of elbow and shoulder injury in pitchers published between 1965 and 2002 [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. In 1965, Adams conducted the seminal epidemiologic study on this issue [19].…”

“…The frequency of arm pain was highest in pitchers. Subsequent studies of American youth and high school players have demonstrated a prevalence of elbow pain between 18 and 29% [22,24,27,28] and an incidence of elbow pain of 26% among youth players and 58% among high school players [20,21,23,25,26]. Shoulder pain has not been studied as frequently with a prevalence of 29% in single study of 9-18-year-old boys [28] and an incidence of 32-35% in two recent studies by Lyman et al [25,26].…”

“…The utility of this information is suspect, because studies often used differing definitions of 'injury'. Some studies required only self-report of injury [13,22,[24][25][26], some required a hospital visit [6], while some required an insurance claim [10,12]. Since abrasions might not require medical attention from a trained health professional or an insurance claim, these are likely greatly under-reported in some studies.…”

“…Breakaway bases [46,47] Several intervention trials have High demonstrated a greatly reduced risk of lower extremity injury from sliding. Sliding techniques [24] Reducing sliding injuries through education Low has been largely ineffective -breakaway bases represent a much more effective intervention. Pitching limits [25,26] Pitch limits have not been instituted at Moderate any level of youth competition, though weekly innings limits have been in use for decades in youth baseball.…”