A study in American Journal of Sports Medicine investigated whether a baseball players' pitching history is associated with changes in the ulnar collateral ligament.
The researchers analyzed stress ultrasounds of the elbow for 102 youth and adolescent baseball pitchers, all of whom were separated into two groups based on age. They went on to compare findings related to the dominant elbows of athletes in the two groups.
Here's what you need to know:
1. For all pitchers, the mean UCL thickness was 4.40 millimeters in the dominant elbow and 4.11 millimeters in the non-dominant elbow.
2. When comparing the two groups, the researchers found differences in UCL thickness, resting joint space width and stressed joint space width.
3. In particular, UCL thickness differed based on whether players had thrown more than 67 pitches per appearance, whether players had pitched more than 5 innings per appearance and whether players had more than 5.5 years of pitching experience.
4. Age, weight and pitches per appearance were all associated with UCL thickness.
The researchers concluded, "UCL thickness increases as pitchers get older and heavier and as they increase their pitch volumes."