Predictors of throwing velocity in youth and adolescent pitchers

• Published in: Journal of shoulder and elbow surgery 2015-09, Vol.24 (9), p.1339-1345
• Main Authors: Sgroi, Terrance, DPT, MTC, Chalmers, Peter N., MD, Riff, Andrew J., MD, Lesniak, Matthew, DPT, Sayegh, Eli T., BS, Wimmer, Markus A., PhD, Verma, Nikhil N., MD, Cole, Brian J., MD, MBA, Romeo, Anthony A., MD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Age Factors; Baseball; Baseball - physiology; Biomechanical Phenomena; Body Height - physiology; Child; Cross-Sectional Studies; Elbow Joint - physiology; Female; Humans; injury prevention; Male; motion analysis; Movement - physiology; Orthopedics; overhand throwing; pitching; Posture - physiology; Range of Motion, Articular; Shoulder Joint - physiology; superior labral anterior-posterior tear; ulnar collateral ligament tear
• ISSN: 1058-2746; 1532-6500
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jse.2015.02.015

Background Shoulder and elbow injuries are a common cause of pain, dysfunction, and inability to play in overhead throwers. Pitch velocity plays an integral part in the etiology of these injuries; however, the demographic and biomechanical correlates with throwing velocity remain poorly understood. We hypothesized that pitchers with higher velocity would have shared demographic and kinematic characteristics. Methods Normal preseason youth and adolescent pitchers underwent dual-orthogonal high-speed video analysis while pitch velocity was collected with a radar gun. Demographic and pitching history data were also collected. Kinematic data and observational mechanics were recorded. Multivariate regression analysis was performed. Results A total of 420 pitchers were included, with a mean pitching velocity of 64 ± 10 mph. After multivariate logistic regression analysis, the most important correlates with pitch velocity were age ( P