Baseball: The Cause Of Shoulder Problems In Athletes

Online, April 13, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Shoulder injuries are a common ailment from many athletic activities such as lifting weights, football, and baseball. For pitchers the shoulder is at an extreme risk of injury due to the repetitive movement of throwing a pitch.

According to boston.com:

"Talk about a dead arm.

Using a computer-controlled cadaver to simulate a pitcher on the mound, Boston researchers are gaining insights into the causes of baseball shoulder problems - which derail more major leaguers than just about any other injury.

In the study, the reanimated bodies duplicate the throwing motions of actual pitchers, but the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center scientists say their findings reach beyond professional baseball and may help countless weekend warriors, as well as high school and college athletes, recover from similar injuries or prevent them altogether.

Working in the shadow of Fenway Park, and with a grant from Major League Baseball, the researchers have found a common denominator that, they say, is a likely culprit in some of the most common shoulder injuries among pitchers - a misaligned scapula, better known as the shoulder blade.

When pitchers experience a 'dead arm,' unable to achieve the velocity, the scapula malposition is a major cause of this,'' said Dr. Arun Ramappa, a co-leader of the research team and the chief of sports medicine and shoulder surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess.

While other scientists have traced various shoulder problems to an out-of-whack scapula, the Beth Israel Deaconess team is believed to be the first to demonstrate, down to the muscle and bone level, precisely how the injuries occur through the use of mechanized cadavers. That, Ramappa said, will help them better understand which treatments, including surgery and physical therapy, are most effective at restoring shoulder mobility.

The researchers began by programming a computer with millions of bits of data captured by a high-speed camera, which snapped 120 frames a second of MLB pitchers who were tagged with small infrared markers attached to their arms and torso. The computer then directed a mechanized scaffold to move the cadaver's arm, exactly duplicating each pitcher's motion, albeit much slower.

Practicing first with skeleton models, and then on the cadavers, the team documented a normal range of motion for a pitcher's shoulder."

Read more: http://articles.boston.com/2011-04-12/lifestyle/29410782_1_shoulder-upper-arm-bone-researchers