School of Kinesiology, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA.
Department of Sport Sciences, Northern State University, Aberdeen, South Dakota, USA.
Am J Sports Med. 2024 Oct;52(12):3118-3129. doi: 10.1177/03635465241278359. Epub 2024 Sep 30.
Softball pitchers frequently pitch at high volumes. Previous research has demonstrated changes in mechanics, range of motion, and perceived levels of fatigue and pain at high workloads. To date, little research has assessed changes in kinetics at high workloads across pitch types to understand the injury risk.
To examine changes in peak kinetics of the shoulder, elbow, and wrist of the pitching arm throughout a simulated game and doubleheader inning.
Descriptive laboratory study.
A total of 19 high school softball pitchers (mean age, 15.1 ± 1.5 years; mean height, 1.6 ± 0.2 m; mean weight, 76.3 ± 16.9 kg) participated. Pitchers threw 4 innings of 25 randomly assigned pitches to mimic a game's high pitch count. Participants then rested for 30 minutes before subsequently proceeding to pitch the first inning of a doubleheader. Each pitcher threw a fastball, drop ball, curveball, and changeup. Peak shoulder, elbow, and wrist kinetics were compared across the first, last, and doubleheader innings and pitch types.
Compared with the first inning, significant decreases in kinetics were observed at the shoulder, elbow, and wrist in the last ( < .016) and doubleheader ( < .016) innings, particularly for shoulder and elbow compression force during the drop ball and curveball pitch types and wrist net force for all pitch types but the changeup. Significant decreases in elbow and wrist kinetics were observed during the changeup between the last and doubleheader innings ( < .016). Furthermore, differences in kinetics were observed between pitch types ( < .008); notably, the changeup had reduced kinetics compared with the fastball and breaking ball pitch types (drop ball, curveball) across innings.
Across innings, attenuations in select joint kinetics of the pitching arm occurred that were specific to the pitch type. Across pitch types, peak kinetics was often greater during the fastball, while the changeup displayed the lowest peak kinetics.
The joints examined in this study are common sites of overuse injuries in pitchers. This work adds to previous findings on decrements in neuromuscular function as well as self-reported fatigue and pain with tournament-style pitching that may increase the injury risk. Collectively, these findings support developing a protocol combining functional testing and player-reported outcomes to aid sports specialists' decisions for pitchers to continue to pitch or return to play, which may help prevent musculoskeletal injuries and time loss from sports participation.
垒球投手经常以高音量投球。以前的研究表明，在高工作量下，力学、运动范围以及感知到的疲劳和疼痛程度都会发生变化。迄今为止，很少有研究评估各种投球类型在高工作量下的动力学变化，以了解受伤风险。
研究模拟比赛和双赛局中肩部、肘部和手腕的投球臂在整个投球过程中峰值动力学的变化。
描述性实验室研究。
共有 19 名高中垒球投手（平均年龄 15.1±1.5 岁；平均身高 1.6±0.2 米；平均体重 76.3±16.9 千克）参加。投手随机投掷 4 局 25 次，以模拟比赛中的高投球次数。参与者休息 30 分钟后，继续投第一局双赛局。每个投手投出一个快球、下降球、曲线球和变速球。比较第一、最后和双赛局以及投球类型的肩部、肘部和手腕的峰值动力学。
与第一局相比，最后一局（<0.016）和双赛局（<0.016）时，肩部、肘部和手腕的动力学明显下降，特别是在下降球和曲线球投球类型时，肩部和肘部的压缩力以及所有投球类型的腕部净力都下降了，但变速球除外。最后一局和双赛局之间，投变速球时，肘部和腕部的动力学明显下降（<0.016）。此外，投球类型之间存在动力学差异（<0.008）；值得注意的是，与快球和破球（下降球、曲线球）相比，变速球的动力学较低。
在各个局次中，投球臂的特定关节动力学出现衰减，这与投球类型有关。在各个投球类型中，快球时的峰值动力学通常较大，而变速球的峰值动力学最小。
本研究中检查的关节是投手常见的过度使用损伤部位。这项工作增加了以前关于神经肌肉功能下降以及锦标赛式投球中自我报告的疲劳和疼痛的发现，这些发现可能会增加受伤风险。总的来说，这些发现支持制定一种结合功能测试和运动员报告结果的方案，以帮助体育专家决定投手是否继续投球或返回比赛，这可能有助于防止肌肉骨骼损伤和因运动参与而导致的时间损失。
