Elbow Injuries Among MLB Pitchers Increased During Covid-19 Disrupted Season, But Not Other Baseball Injuries.
Chelsea Martin, Jozef Palasiewicz, Jesse Grullon and 6 others
PMID 37020443WHAT IT FOUND
Overall MLB injury rates were similar in the disrupted 2020 season and 2015-2019.
Pitcher elbow injuries were 3.5 times the 2015-2019 rate in 2020. Watch pitch volume and recovery after abrupt stoppages.
Key findings
01After exposure adjustment, combined injury rates were not higher in the 2020 disrupted season than in 2015-2019, and were lower in 2021.
02Pitchers had an increased risk of 3.5 for elbow injury in the 2020 disrupted season compared with 2015-2019.
03Position players' groin/hip/thigh injuries were the most common body region in 2020 at 2.0 per 1000 athlete-game exposures, but this was not significantly different from earlier seasons.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study included only Major League Baseball players, so the results may not apply to minor league, college, high school or amateur baseball players. It used public data, so missing records could not be quantified. Injuries were coded by body region rather than diagnosis, so different elbow pathologies were not separated. Exposure was estimated from teams, scheduled games and roster sizes, not each player's actual game or practice participation. Preseason and off-season injuries were excluded, so the study does not describe injuries outside the regular and postseason window. The design was observational, so it cannot show that the disrupted 2020 season caused the pitcher elbow injury increase.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that the disrupted 2020 season increased overall injury rates in MLB. The exposure-adjusted model found no significant difference in combined injuries between 2020 and 2015-2019; the clear increase was specific to pitchers' elbow injuries.