Abstract
Background: Baseball pitching is associated with a high prevalence of ulnar collateral ligament injuries, potentially due to the high external valgus load on the medial side of the elbow at the instant of maximal shoulder external rotation (MER). In-vitro studies show that external valgus torque is resisted by the ulnar collateral ligament but could also be compensated by elbow muscles. As the potential active contribution of these muscles in counteracting external valgus load during baseball pitching is unknown, the aim of this study is to determine whether and to what extent the elbow muscles are active at and around MER during a fastball pitch in baseball.Methods: Eleven uninjured pitchers threw 15 fastball pitches. Surface electromyography of six muscles crossing the elbow were measured at 2000 Hz. Electromyography signals were normalized to maximal activity values. Co-contraction index (CCI) was calculated between two pairs of the flexor and extensor elbow muscles. Confidence intervals were calculated at the instant of MER. Four ranges of muscle activity were considered; 0–20% was considered low; 21–40% moderate; 41–60% high and over 60% as very high. To determine MER, the pitching motion was captured with a highspeed camera at 240 Hz.Results: The flexor pronator mass, pronator teres, triceps brachii, biceps brachii, extensor supinator mass and anconeus show moderate activity at MER. Considerable variation between participants was found in all muscles. The CCI revealed co-contraction of the two flexor-extensor muscle pairs at MER.Interpretation: The muscle activation of the flexor and pronator muscles at MER indicates a direct contribution of forearm muscles crossing the medial side of the elbow in counteracting the external valgus load during fastball pitching. The activation of both flexor and extensor muscles indicates an in-direct contributory effect as the combined activity of these muscles counteract opening of the humeroulnar joint space. We believe that active muscular contributions counteracting the elbow valgus torque can be presumed to relieve the ulnar collateral ligament from maximal stress and are thus of importance in injury risk assessment in fastball pitching in baseball.
Highlights
Baseball pitching is a sports action that stresses the medial side of the elbow and is associated with a high prevalence of medial elbow injuries (Olsen et al, 2006; Conte et al, 2015)
It has been reported that pitchers throwing with a higher external valgus torque have a thicker Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) compared to pitchers who throw with a lower external valgus torque (Hurd et al, 2011), indicating that the UCL is important in resisting the external valgus torque
foot contact (FC) and ball release (BR), except for the extensorsupinator mass (ESM) which is most active before FC
Summary
Baseball pitching is a sports action that stresses the medial side of the elbow and is associated with a high prevalence of medial elbow injuries (Olsen et al, 2006; Conte et al, 2015). Inverse dynamics studies show that, when performing a baseball pitch, shortly before shoulder maximal external rotation (MER), as the throwing arm transitions through the arm cocking phase and acceleration phase, the elbow resists its peak load (Werner et al, 1993; Fleisig et al, 1995; Gasparutto et al, 2016). Baseball pitching is associated with a high prevalence of ulnar collateral ligament injuries, potentially due to the high external valgus load on the medial side of the elbow at the instant of maximal shoulder external rotation (MER). As the potential active contribution of these muscles in counteracting external valgus load during baseball pitching is unknown, the aim of this study is to determine whether and to what extent the elbow muscles are active at and around MER during a fastball pitch in baseball
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