Purpose To characterize the epidemiology of upper extremity injuries among elite college baseball players in 1 league over 5 seasons. Methods Deidentified arm injury reports were recorded from the 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023 Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) seasons. Included injuries were those that happened to CCBL players during the above 5 seasons, impacted the upper extremity, occurred during official CCBL practice or gameplay settings, and were recorded by League athletic trainers. Injuries were recorded by team athletic trainers according to a standardized reporting guide and then reviewed and compiled by the league's athletic training coordinator. Data were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics, including chi‐square tests of independence and linear regression. Results A total of 162 upper extremity injuries were reported across 5 summer seasons for a mean of 32.4 ± 4.2 injuries per season. The average upper extremity injury rate across all 5 seasons was 2.22 injuries per 1000 athletic exposures. There was no significant injury trend from 2018 to 2023 (R 2 = .434, P = .227). Almost 40% (61/154) of injuries were reinjuries, and overuse (120/158, 75.9%) was more common than trauma (38/158, 24.1%) regarding mechanism of injury. Muscles/tendons (e.g., strain) (97/161, 60.2%) were the most injured structure, and the shoulder (92/162, 56.8%) was the most frequently injured anatomic region. More than half (89/158, 56.3%) of injuries occurred in pitchers. Nearly all (146, 90.1%) injuries occurred during games instead of during practice (injury rate ratio = 9.1 5.5, 15.3). Significantly more injuries were time‐loss injuries (105/162, 64.8%) than non–time‐loss ( P < .001). Conclusions Among upper extremity injuries recorded across 5 seasons in the CCBL, injuries were predominantly due to overuse, most often involved shoulder anatomy, and frequently resulted in missed playing time. More than half of the injuries occurred in pitchers, and reinjuries were common. Level of Evidence Level IV, epidemiological case series.
Painter et al. (Mon,) studied this question.