Common Baseball Injuries and Smart Baseball Injury Prevention Tips

These four injuries are ubiquitous among baseball players. Learn more about baseball injuries and how they can be prevented.

There’s been a lot of news and attention lately focused on football injuries. Due to major stories and debates regarding the damaging effects of concussions occurring while playing football, the safety of football players has been the center of a broad national discussion.

But what about baseball? While it’s true that the mechanics of baseball don’t cause the same degree of persistent physical threat and damage as certain football positions, baseball presents its own set of unique physical dangers to player health.

And these dangers go far beyond the risk of a strike to the head with a baseball.

At Rothman Orthopaedic Institute, we have extensive experience treating sports injuries and are familiar with the full spectrum of common baseball injuries, including baseball elbow injuries, baseball shoulder injuries and many more. We are most experienced at treating these baseball injuries--and we know the baseball injury prevention measures that can be taken to prevent these injuries from happening.

Four Injury Types and Prevention Measures

While each sports injury is different due to the specific conditions of the injury and health background of the athlete, there are certain trends and types of injuries that are ubiquitous to the sport of baseball. Listed below are four common baseball injuries and their respective baseball injury prevention tips.

• Muscles Strains and Ligament Sprains

Have you been experiencing symptoms of muscle pain, spasms, and weakness? Have you noticed bruising, swelling, and inflammation of affected joint? It’s likely that you’ve experienced a muscle strain or ligament sprain, which are generally caused by overuse. Among baseball players, sprains and strains most commonly occur in the legs, arms, and back. Preventing sprains, strains, and - in extreme cases – muscle and ligament tears requires reducing stressful activity or overuse to a moderate level, stretching before activity, rest, icing, compression, and elevation.

• Rotator Cuff Tears

One of the most common baseball pitching injuries is a rotator cuff tear. The rotator cuff is made up of four muscles that join at the top of the arm bone; repeated motions and strains on the shoulder can damage the rotator cuff, so it should come as no surprise that pitching is a common source of these injuries. Baseball injury prevention for rotator cuff injuries generally involves exercises to build muscles and strength of tendons in the shoulder; and, as usual, rest and resisting overexertion are essential.

• Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) Injury

Injuries to the ulnar collateral ligament (or UCL) of the elbow are similarly common among baseball pitchers, whose repetitive throwing motions place excessive stress on the UCL. The UCL stabilizes the elbow, which will likely experience pain and stiffness after a UCL injury. Not pitching sidearm, only pitching seasonally (rather than year-round), and ceasing pitching activity for a temporary period if elbow pain arises are key baseball injury prevention tips for the UCL.

• Injuries to the ACL and MCL

Many baseball players experience injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and medial collateral ligament (MCL), both of which serve to stabilize the knee. These injuries are the cause of painful symptoms--popping and snapping sensations, swelling, looseness, difficulty supporting weight, and severe pain. These injuries are usually suffered while running and coming to an abrupt stop. To prevent injuries to the ACL and MCL, it is recommended that players avoid extreme sudden stops while running, landing on flexed knees, or twisting of the knee when the foot is planted.

Hopefully, you’ll be able to avoid these injuries from occurring by remembering these simple baseball injury prevention tips. If an injury does occur, depending on the degree, a combination of rest, icing, compression, and elevation may allow you to heal. In more serious cases, surgery may be recommended. If you believe you have suffered a baseball or sports injury, visit us here or contact us at 1-800-321-9999. Rothman sports physicians will ensure that you receive the best care and most effective treatment options available.