Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York.
Cornell University College of Engineering, Ithaca, New York.
Sports Health. 2023 Jan-Feb;15(1):36-44. doi: 10.1177/19417381221092024. Epub 2022 May 2.
Professional baseball pitchers sustain 75% of knee injuries while at the pitcher's mound, yet no pitching motion has been associated directly with such injuries. Stride width is a potential, modifiable risk factor worth investigating.
Increased stride width in both the positive and negative directions (deviations from neutral stride width) would correlate with increased incidence of knee injury in pitchers.
Descriptive laboratory.
Level 5.
Professional pitchers (n = 199) were evaluated with motion capture (480 Hz) while pitching. Injury history over 10 years was recorded at face-to-face interviews with pitchers. Players were subsequently grouped into stride width tertiles, compared for previous injury incidence of the lower extremities. Regressions were performed to observe performance benefits of stride width with ball velocity, accuracy, or consistency in pitch location as secondary outcomes.
Of the 40 lower extremity injuries reported, meniscal injury (27.5%) was the most common, followed by foot stress fracture (20.0%). Significant differences in injury incidence were noted between the least and most positive stride width tertiles: lower extremity (10.4% vs 25.8%, respectively; = 0.03), knee (3.0% vs 15.2%, respectively; = 0.02), and meniscal (0.0% vs 12.1%; = 0.00). Stride width of pitchers with meniscal injury in the lead (32.6 ± 7.1 cm, n = 5; = 0.02) and stance leg (33.5 ± 10.6 cm, n = 5; = 0.03) was significantly more positive than that of uninjured pitchers (21.1 ± 11.5 cm, n = 164). No significant relationships were established between stride width and ball velocity ( = 0.54) or pitch location metrics ( > 0.05).
Pitchers with increased positive, stride width had significantly higher incidence of lower extremity injury (knee and meniscus). Wider, positive stride width may increase the degree of external rotation on the lead knee in a loaded state, which can place the medial side of the knee (and meniscus) at higher risk of injury.
Decreasing stride width may be beneficial for professional pitchers to reduce the rate of lower extremity injury, while also preserving performance metric outcomes.
专业棒球投手在投球时 75%的膝盖受伤，而没有一种投球动作与这些受伤直接相关。步幅宽度是一个值得研究的潜在、可改变的风险因素。
正、负方向的步幅宽度增加（与中立步幅宽度的偏差）与投手的膝盖受伤发生率增加相关。
描述性实验室研究。
5 级。
对 199 名职业投手进行运动捕捉（480Hz），同时进行投球。通过与投手面对面的访谈记录了 10 年以上的伤病史。随后，根据步幅宽度将球员分为三分位数组，比较下肢既往受伤的发生率。进行回归分析以观察步幅宽度与球速、准确性或投球位置一致性等次要结果的关系。
报告了 40 例下肢损伤，半月板损伤（27.5%）最常见，其次是足部应力性骨折（20.0%）。在最小和最大正步幅宽度三分位数组之间，观察到受伤发生率的显著差异：下肢（分别为 10.4%和 25.8%； = 0.03）、膝盖（分别为 3.0%和 15.2%； = 0.02）和半月板（分别为 0.0%和 12.1%； = 0.00）。半月板受伤的投手的领先步幅宽度（32.6 ± 7.1cm，n=5； = 0.02）和支撑腿步幅宽度（33.5 ± 10.6cm，n=5； = 0.03）明显大于未受伤投手的步幅宽度（21.1 ± 11.5cm，n=164）。步幅宽度与球速（ = 0.54）或投球位置指标之间未建立显著关系（ > 0.05）。
步幅宽度增加的投手下肢损伤（膝盖和半月板）发生率显著增加。更宽的正向步幅宽度可能会增加负重状态下前膝的外旋程度，从而使膝盖内侧（和半月板）更容易受伤。
减少步幅宽度可能对专业投手有益，可降低下肢受伤率，同时保持表现指标的结果。
