For those of us who are baseball fans, we have long struggled along with our favorite players as they suffer season ending Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) injuries. A study, “Stress Sonography of the Ulnar Collateral Ligament of the Elbow in Professional Baseball Pitchers” (Ciccotti, M. G. 544), done for the American Journal of Sports Medicine has set out to prove if Stress Ultrasounds are an excellent predictor of a UCL injury. This is the first time this form of radiographic imaging has been used to analyze the potential risk of a UCL injury for professional pitchers.
Currently, UCL injuries are on the rise for professional baseball pitchers. The Ulnar Collateral Ligament is a vital element in a pitcher’s arsenal as it runs up and links the bones of the upper and lower arm where they meet at the elbow. Indeed, a rupture or damage to this ligament can be incredibly unfortunate
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G. 544), found that all significant variables had increased in pitchers affected by a UCL injury. Conversely, lead researcher, Michael G. Ciccotti, says regarding the results, “We were unable to determine if these abnormalities are directly associated with the risk of future UCL injuries because of the low number of UCL reconstructions performed over the 10-year study period. With continued longitudinal surveillance, we hope to precisely define the risk factors for future UCL injuries on stress US in this athletic population.” (Ciccotti, M. G. 550).
Ciccotti notes a few limitations in the study. For example, there were several factors that have shown to be related to elbow injuries that were not taken into account, such as pitch count, skill level, and position in pitching rotation (Ciccotti, M. G. 550). He also notes that more research is needed to predict the role of Stress Ultrasounds and their ability to be one-hundred percent reliable in analyzing a UCL
The elbow is a hinge joint, moving in only one dimension (flex or extend), making it relatively simple from an architectural and functional standpoint. The humerus bone in the upper arm connects to the two bones of the forearm by means of various connective tissues. For a pitcher, one of the most important of these connections is the unlar collaterial ligament (UCL). The UCL offers much of the stability that is necessary for the elbow to withstand the extreme stresses created by throwing a baseball at high velocity. Its function is to stabilize against lateral forces and to keep the arm connected across the joint space.
Díaz, a specialist from the University of Castilla La Mancha who specializes in sport medicine compared ultrasound images of five different types of musculoskeletal injuries from two different high definition sonography devices. The two devices used in the study were the traditional US-A model and the new technological device US-B. The US-B system included harmonic imaging, real time ultrasound, panoramic view, 3D imaging and virtual convex. Images from the five different subjects included muscle contusion, muscle strain, patellar tendonitis, calcified patellar tendonitis and partial tear of medial ligament of the knee.
The incidence and prevalence rate of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in female athletes continues to increase over time (Prodromos, Han, Rogowski, Joyce, & Shi, 2007). With the growing rate in the amount of young women participating in sports, data has shown that the rate of ACL injury increases linearly with this participation ("The Relationship Between Static Posture and ACL Injury in Female Athletes," 1996). This epidemic of ACL injuries in female athletes, young or old, continues to be problematic in the athletic world. This problem not only affects the athlete themselves, but also the coaches and the sports medicine community.
The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the most important of your four major knee ligaments. The function of the ACL is to provide stability to the knee and minimize stress across the knee joint. It restrains excessive forward movement of the lower leg bone (the tibia) in relation to the thigh bone (the femur). It also limits rotational movements of the knee. “Greater external knee valgus and internal rotation moments have been shown to increase loading on the ACL in vitro and are thought to be associated with the increased risk of noncontact ACL injury” (Effects 2011). A tear to the anterior cruciate ligament results from overstretching of this ligament within the knee. It’s usually due to a sudden stop and twisting motion of the knee, or a “...
In spite of this the rate of ACL injury is almost equal through all levels of sports, from beginner, to recreational, to professional athletes. The most widely publicized incident of ACL damage has come from Theresa Edwards who was a top female athlete. She was a basketball player who went to the limit with sports. She went beyond her capability and her ligament couldn’t withstand the pressure and snapped. She is not the only but just one example of many who have suffered this same problem. As female athletes continue to become more competitive and aggressive, ACL damage continues to rise.
The most common knee injury in sports is damage to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) through tears or sprains. “They occur in high demand sports that involve planting and cutting, jumping with a poor landing, and stopping immediately or changing directions” (University of Colorado Hospital). The ACL is a ligament that runs diagonally in the middle of the knee and found at the front of the patellar bone. Its function involves controlling the back and forth motion of the knee, preventing the tibia from sliding out in front of the femur, and providing rational stability to the knee. Interestingly, women are more prone to ACL injuries than men. The occurrence is four to six times greater in female athletes.
Pitching puts a large amount of stress on the pitcher’s body, especially the elbow and arm. The reason for this is that the act of pitching contains so many unnatural body movements. The body is not made to make the jerky movements that are involved in pitching. Some of the forces that affect the body during pitching include gravitational force and the resistance of the ball. Even though the ball is small and you wouldn’t think the resistance force is very high, you would be surprised at how large of a difference it makes and how much it actually affects your body.
When comparing rotator cuff tears from the common people and athletes, they are much more common when a person is physically active in sports. An injury in the rotator ...
For example, "Little League Elbow" describes overuse injuries in kids who are repetitively throwing the ball. Kids are sustaining severe injuries to their growth plates, neck and spinal cord that could end their career in pro-sports before it begins....
A 16-year-old, female high school soccer player, Lindsey Robinson, tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) during a soccer game. Interestingly, she was not the only one in her team who injured her ACL, but several of her teammates have torn the same ligament as well during the soccer season. Lephart (2002) found that women involved in physical activity are more susceptible to acquiring the ACL injuries than men who are involved in the same physical activity (as cited in Ogden, 2002). According to “ACL Injury Prevention” (2004), the numbers of female ACL ruptures have increased for the past ten years. Over 1.4 million women have suffered from the ACL rupture, which is twice the rate of the previous decade.
A major part of these regions were due to ligament sprains, targeted stretching exercises may be beneficial. The most injure players were those with the position of running back and linebackers. In the season of 2005-2006 there were recorder more than half a million injuries nationally of football high school players. This data was collected from over 100 high school football teams. The Columbus Children’s Hospital was the first one to compare injuries between college players and high school players. I can infer this when I read this from the text, “Four out of every 1,000 high school football exposure resulted in an injury, while eight out of every 1,000 collegiate football exposure resulted in an injury.”
There are many injuries in general, but sports injuries? Sprains and Strains are the most common injuries in sports. “Sprains are injuries to ligaments, the tough bands connecting in a joint. Suddenly stretching ligaments past their limits deforms or tears them” (Hoffman 1). Ligaments are like springs in a sense that when you stretch a spring, it will return to it’s normal state unless they are
An ankle fracture is a break in one or more of the three bones that make up the ankle joint. The ankle joint is made up by the lower (distal) sections of your lower leg bones (tibia and fibula) along with a bone in your foot (talus). Depending on how bad the break is and if more than one ankle joint bone is broken, a cast or splint is used to protect and keep your injured bone from moving while it heals. Sometimes, surgery is required to help the fracture heal properly.
The majority of ACL injuries suffered during athletic participation are of the noncontact variety. Three main noncontact mechanisms have been identified planting and cutting, straight-knee landing and one-step stop landing with the knee hyperextended. Pivoting and sudden deceleration are also common mechanisms of noncontact ACL injury. Basketball, soccer, and volleyball consistently produce some of the highest ACL injury rates across various age groups. Other activities with a high rate of injury are gymnastics, martial arts, and running. In most sports, injuries occur more often in games than in practice. Many injuries have occurred during the first 30 minutes of play. One-reason physicians are seeing more ACL injuries in female patients that more women play sports, and they play more intensely. But as they continued to do more studies, they are finding that women's higher rate of ACL is probably due ...
The nerves are raging, mainly in his stomach as the butterflies flutter till no end. "Is everything ok? Will everything go as planned?" He couldn't stop thinking about what might happen. Images were racing wild as he thought about his teammates going to battle without him. He couldn't comprehend why he had to let them handle it on their own. He has played with them since they were in eighth grade, and when they need him the most, all he can do is sit and cheer. He hates this feeling of helplessness, but at the same time he knows he has to do what little he can do, well.