While America’s favorite pastime is exciting to
play, it can also cause some serious injuries.
According
to the US Consumer Products Safety Commission, more than 627,000 baseball-related
injuries are treated every year in hospitals, doctors' offices, and other
medical facilities.
The
frequent throwing, bat-swinging, and catching high-speed balls involved in
baseball can lead to a large variety of sports injuries, both cumulative (from
overuse) and acute (from a sudden impact).
With baseball season in full swing, we’ve seen and
treated quite a few shoulder, elbow, hand and wrist injuries.
Youth baseball pitching injuries, specifically, are
on the rise, despite the implementation of nationally recommended pitching
limits, according to a multicenter, national research study.The American Orthopedic Society for Sports medicine sponsored the study and found the most prevalent reasons for arm pain and tiredness stems from five main causes:
1.
Pitching for more
than one team during the same season
2.
Pitching more than
one game during the same day
3.
Pitching on
back-to-back days
4.
Pitching in a
league without pitch counts or playing year-round
5.
Throwing curve
balls before high school
Specific
injuries include:
SHOULDER:
·
Bursitis
·
Impingement syndrome (inflammation of the
tendons of the rotator cuff)
·
Rotator cuff tendonitis
·
Shoulder instability (a loosening of the
structures that keep the ball of the shoulder in the socket)
·
Shoulder separation
·
Tendonitis
·
Torn rotator cuff
ELBOW:
·
"Little leaguer's elbow"
(inflammation on the inner side of the elbow, common in pitchers age 16 and
under; also called golfer's elbow or medial epicondylitis)
·
Tennis elbow (inflammation on the outside of
the elbow, also called lateral epicondylitis)
·
Medial elbow ligament tears ("Tommy
John" surgery)
HAND OR WRIST:
·
Finger fractures
·
Bursitis
·
Wrist sprains
·
Wrist tendonitis
·
Tenosynovitis (inflammation tendons on the
thumb side of the wrist)
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