Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Semester of Degree Completion

2004

Thesis Director

Brian L. Pritschet

Abstract

In the modern era of sports, major injuries occur as routinely as practice. There is no better example than in the world of baseball. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that contribute significantly to elbow trauma in pitchers. Data was gathered from pitchers at the collegiate level of play. It was hypothesized that a pitcher's playing behavior in regard to pitch count, pitch type, and weekly pitching frequency would directly relate to a history of elbow injury. Also such factors as height, weight, pitching stride length, elbow joint laxity, upper and lower arm length, and flexion and extension of the elbow were examined to determine if they were significantly associated with injury. Twenty six collegiate baseball players were given a survey to seek information on their pitching history and current elbow health. All twenty-six surveys were completed and received for analysis. The questions on the survey included: how long they had been a pitcher, the types of pitches they threw, how long they have thrown those pitches, what their pitch counts were in the past and what it is at the present time. In addition, questions about their past and present elbow health were included. If the subject was injured they were asked to rate their pain on a scale of one to ten. The physical attributes measured were height, weight, joint laxity, stride length, elbow flexion and extension, and upper, lower and total limb length. The survey was completed during the collegiate season. After all the data was collected, the subjects were placed into three groups, an injured group, a pain group, and a no injury/pain group. Descriptive statistics were calculated for the dependant variables by group. Differences among the groups for dependent variables were assessed using ANOVA (SPSS version 11.5). An alpha level of less than .05 was used to indicate statistical significance in this study.

There was no evidence that pitch type or pitch count was associated with elbow injury. Pitching frequency at the little league and high school levels were higher in groups that experience pain and injury. There was less range of motion in elbow flexion in the group that had injury than in the group with pain only. Subjects in the injured group had a longer upper limb than the pain group. No other physical measurement was associated with risk of injury in the elbow in this limited sample of baseball pitchers.

It was concluded from these results that a high pitching volume (frequency * pitch count) at a young age, limited range of motion in elbow flexion, and longer limb length may contribute to a higher risk of elbow injury by the time pitchers reach the college level.

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