Bonner Kirk H, Haberl Jack K, Kirshblum Steven C, Ashraf Humaira
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Newark, NJ, USA.
JSES Rev Rep Tech. 2021 Apr 20;1(3):246-251. doi: 10.1016/j.xrrt.2021.04.001. eCollection 2021 Aug.
Major League Baseball (MLB) was among the first professional team sports leagues to resume play in the United States after public health measures related to the appearance of coronavirus disease 2019 caused interruptions to preseason training and major alterations to regular season play. There was a high level of concern that these athletes were ill-prepared for competition and would experience an increased risk of injury under the restricted play rules.
The data in our study were compiled using publicly accessible records of players placed on injured lists from 2015 to 2020. These records came from 4 open access websites: rotoworld.com, fangraphs.com, foxsports.com, and spotrac.com. All injuries were confirmed using the transaction database found on the official MLB website (mlb.com).
A greater proportion of pitchers were injured during the first 30 days of the 2020 season compared to the first 30 days of any of the 5 prior seasons (29.74% vs. 11.72%, n=2190, <.001). There was a demonstrated increase in injury risk in 2020 for the following anatomic locations: back and trunk, shoulder, upper arm and elbow, forearm and wrist, and hand and finger (=.02; confidence interval [0.497-5.783]). When dividing the first month of play in 2020 into equal halves (15 days each), the number of relief pitcher injuries increased with time (60% vs. 78%, =.04). Lastly, there was no proportional difference in placement on the short-term vs. long-term injured list.
A significantly large increase in soft tissue injuries in 2020 compared to the prior 5 seasons predominantly affected the trunk and the upper extremity of pitchers in the first 30 days of play. Alterations to preseason training and regular season play in the 2020 MLB season due to coronavirus disease 2019 may have been particularly disadvantageous to professional pitchers who are positioned at baseline, the most injury prone position.
美国职业棒球大联盟（MLB）是美国首批在与2019冠状病毒病相关的公共卫生措施导致季前训练中断和常规赛大幅改变后恢复比赛的职业团体运动联盟之一。人们高度担心这些运动员没有做好比赛准备，并且在受限的比赛规则下受伤风险会增加。
我们研究中的数据是使用2015年至2020年被列入伤病名单的球员的公开记录汇编而成的。这些记录来自4个开放获取网站：rotoworld.com、fangraphs.com、foxsports.com和spotrac.com。所有伤病均通过美国职业棒球大联盟官方网站（mlb.com）上的交易数据库进行确认。
与之前5个赛季中任何一个赛季的前30天相比，2020赛季前30天受伤的投手比例更高（29.74%对11.72%，n = 2190，P <.001）。2020年以下解剖部位的受伤风险有明显增加：背部和躯干、肩部、上臂和肘部、前臂和手腕以及手和手指（P =.02；置信区间[0.497 - 5.783]）。将2020年比赛的第一个月分成相等的两半（各15天）时，救援投手的受伤人数随时间增加（60%对78%，P =.04）。最后，在短期伤病名单和长期伤病名单上的分布没有比例差异。
与之前5个赛季相比，2020年软组织损伤显著大幅增加，在比赛的前30天主要影响投手的躯干和上肢。由于2019冠状病毒病，2020年美国职业棒球大联盟赛季季前训练和常规赛的改变可能对处于最易受伤位置——首发位置的职业投手特别不利。
