JOURNAL OF SPORTS SCIENCE & MEDICINE
http://www.jssm.org
  
Research article
  

THE ROLE OF SHOULDER MAXIMUM EXTERNAL ROTATION DURING THROWING FOR ELBOW INJURY PREVENTION IN BASEBALL PLAYERS

Koji Miyashita1, Yukio Urabe2, Hirokazu Kobayashi3, Kiyoshi Yokoe3, Sentaro Koshida4, Morio Kawamura5 and Kunio Ida1

1Research Institute of Life and Health, Chubu University, 1200 Matsumoto-cho, Kasugai, Aichi, Japan, 2Graduate School of Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan, 3Institute of Sports Medicine and Science, Aichi, Japan, 4Dept. of Judotherapy and Sports Medicine, Ryotokuji University, Chiba, Japan, 5Dept. of PT Science, Nagoya University School of Health Sciences, Aichi, Japan

Received   30 October 2007
Accepted   06 March 2008
Published   01 June 2008

© Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2008) 7, 223 - 228
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ABSTRACT  
The objective of the present study was to examine whether the passive range of shoulder external rotation (ER), the maximum shoulder external rotation angle (MER) during throwing, and the ratio of MER to ER are related to the incidence of the elbow injury. A mixed design with one between-factor (a history of the elbow injury) and two within-factors (ER and MER) was used to analyze the difference between baseball players with and without a history of medial elbow pain. Twenty high school baseball players who had experienced the medial elbow pain within the previous month but who were not experiencing the pain on the day of the experiment were recruited (elbow-injured group). Another twenty baseball players who had never experienced the medial elbow pain were also used for testing (control group). MER during throwing, ER, and the ratio of MER to ER were obtained in both of the group. A Mann-Whitney test was used for the group comparison (p < 0.05). The ratio of MER to ER was significantly greater in the elbow-injured group (1.52 ± 0.19) than that in the control group (1.33 ± 0.23) (p = 0.008). On the other hand, there was no statistical significance in MER and ER between two groups. The findings of the study indicate that MER/ER relation could be associated with the incidence of the elbow injury in baseball players.

Key words: Throwing, shoulder, maximum external rotation, elbow valgus stress, prevention.

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