What are the most common injuries in youth baseball pitchers?
Overuse injuries are by far the most common type of injury that affects young pitchers; up to 40 percent develop them. In a pitcher who is not finished growing, the growth plates of the elbow and shoulder are the anatomic structures most vulnerable to the stress of overuse. Growth plates are made of soft cartilage, and therefore are not as resistant to stress as ligaments, tendons, or mature bone. Repetitive stress due to overuse causes irritation and inflammation in these growth plates, resulting in injuries such as Little League elbow and Little League shoulder. Traumatic injuries are much less frequent than overuse injuries. The most common traumatic injury is an avulsion fracture of the medial elbow.
