Schulter- und ellenbogenverletzungen bei ballsportarten: Baseball-Pitcher in Deutschland: Schulter- und Ellenbogenbeschwerden

During 1999 51 Baseball pitchers (mean age: 26.3y, pitching experience: 5.8y) from all official German baseball leagues had been interviewed by a standardized questionnaire to determine injuries, overuse syndromes and throwing-specific anatomy of hand, elbow and shoulder.Various injuries to shoulder (impinge- ment syndrome, tendonitis) and elbow (thrower's-tennis's-elbow, distal bicipital tendonitis) occurred, most problems resulted from overuse of the upper extremity during the throwing motion.We also found an inceased range of motion in the dominant pitchers' shoulders.We emphasize the importance of proper throwing mechanics as well as a careful approach to throwing special pitches.