MRI study sheds light on common youth baseball injuries

CHICAGO – Cross-sectional details of soft tissue and bone seen on MRIs show patterns in why so many youth baseball players complain of elbow pain, according to a study presented November 30 at RSNA 2023.“When we look at the forces that baseball players, even Little League baseball players, deal with during routine practice and games, it becomes apparent why elbow injuries are so common amongst this group,” said study co-author Vandan Patel, a radiology-orthopedics research scholar at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. Patel and colleagues led a retrospective study to review elbow MRI exams from 130 youth players (18 years of age and younger, 115 boys and 15 girls) evaluated for elbow pain. The average age of the study group was 13.9 years. Importantly, two radiologists classified 85 patients as “skeletally mature” and 45 patients as “skeletally immature.” The researchers hope that the results of this study will help to identify elbow injuries in children who play baseball and to individualize treatment based on skeletal maturity.Sketch of developing elbow, before and after growth plate closure. Image and caption courtesy of the RSNA. Estimates show that 20% to 40% of youth baseball players between the ages of nine and 12 complain of elbow pain at least once during the season, according to an RSNA statement. Patel and his team’s research showed that the four most common MRI findings in skeletally immature youth players are the following: ...
Source: AuntMinnie.com Headlines - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: Subspecialties Musculoskeletal Radiology Source Type: news