Common Baseball Injuries to Look Out For

Baseball may not be a contact sport like football, hockey or even soccer or basketball, but that doesn’t mean it’s completely free of injuries. People of all ages who play baseball can sustain injuries—most commonly overuse injuries—that can affect them in all parts of their life.

While pitchers tend to be the ones who are most susceptible to injuries, there are a number of conditions that can affect baseball players in general. Here are just a few examples of some of the most common baseball injuries in Las Vegas you should look out for if you’re an avid player.

• Strains: Muscle strains are extremely common in baseball, especially for pitchers, who must be able to rotate their body extremely sharply and quickly to be able to produce the kinds of pitches they need to be successful. Oblique muscle strains have become particularly common. There have been many players in Major League Baseball that have been placed on the disabled list in recent years for a significant amount of time due to these types of strains.
• Rotator cuff injuries: The rotator cuff is a group of four muscles that are in charge of the movement of the shoulder. The repetitive throwing motions of baseball make rotator cuff injuries more likely, and they can be especially devastating for pitchers. The overhead motion used to throw a baseball can cause the tendons inside the rotator cuff to compress, which leads to pain and damage. Tendonitis from this issue can put a baseball player on the DL for weeks to months.
• Torn labrum: This shoulder injury occurs when the cartilage that surrounds the shoulder socket gets damaged and torn. Again, it is especially common in pitchers. You may feel the shoulder joint catch a little bit when rotating the shoulder. This is because the labrum is loose and the entire joint is unstable as a result.
• Thrower’s elbow: Also occasionally referred to as “golfer’s elbow,” this condition features pain on the inside of the elbow that sets in gradually as you overuse the elbow. It tends to be a problem with pitchers who throw hard repeatedly while using incorrect technique. Because it sets in so gradually, it can be difficult to diagnose until the problem becomes more severe.
• UCL sprain: The ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in the elbow is on the inside of the joint, and exists to stabilize the throwing arm. Repetitive use of this ligament can, over the course of time, result in damage to it, as can physical impacts to the elbow joint. Repetitive use is the most common cause of this injury in baseball, and, again, tends to affect pitchers more than other players.
• General shoulder instability: Pitchers may experience “dead arm” from time to time, a condition in which the muscles get overtired, the joint unstable and the shoulder unable to operate as it should. Most of the time this condition is treatable simply with rest and relaxation.

For more information about some of the most common baseball injuries in Las Vegas, we encourage you to contact us and we’ll be happy to tell you more.

Categorized in: Sports Medicine

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