From Reuters Health Information

Major League Baseball Injuries Increasing

By Allison Bond

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jul 29 - Injuries in Major League Baseball players are on the rise, despite advances in conditioning methods and injury treatments, according to research published June 27th in the American Journal of Sports Medicine.

The new study -- only the second to examine injury patterns among major league baseball players -- used the number of players on the disabled list over a seven-year period to gauge the risk of injury.

"There is very little information about injuries and injury rates in major league baseball," said Dr. Kenneth L. Cameron, director of orthopedic research at Keller Army Hospital in West Point, New York and an author of the study. "We wanted to quantify the injuries in baseball at its highest level."

Analyzing the 2002 through 2008 seasons, his group found that player injury rates jumped by nearly 40% after 2005.

The increase may have been due in part to a crackdown on steroid use during that period, Dr. Cameron told Reuters Health, because performance-enhancing drugs can also speed recovery between games.

"When the drug policy changed, it may have affected injury rates," he said.

The nature of injuries did correspond fairly predictably to player positions, according to the research. Pitchers were more likely to injure their arms, wrists, elbows or shoulders, whereas fielders more often injured their legs and hips.

"These findings confirm what we could expect," said Dr. Douglas Comeau, a sports medicine physician and assistant professor at Boston University School of Medicine.

The most common injuries among fielders include hamstring and groin strains. Pitchers, on the other hand, tend to strain or tear ligaments in the elbow or rotator cuff, said Dr. Comeau.

In the study, pitchers got hurt most often, accounting for 62% of all disability days, versus 32% for fielders.

Overall, however, the frequency of injuries decreased every month from April to September -- the first and last months of the regular season.

The initial spike in injuries may be from a lack of conditioning prior to the first big games of the season, Dr. Comeau told Reuters Health. "Major league baseball players might not take spring training seriously, but then they need to play a whole game in a competitive situation."

Dr. Cameron and colleagues say their data may be used to develop an MLB injury database, they write, "as well as in the development and implementation of specific preseason training and in-season conditioning for injury prevention."

For further information: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/747296?src=mp&spon=8