Daily Players’ Satisfaction with Pitching Performance Could Predict Shoulder and Elbow Injuries in High-school Baseball Pitchers: A Prospective Time-to-event Study
Abstract The relationship between baseball pitchers’ satisfaction with their own performance and the incidence of shoulder and elbow injuries is unclear. We analyzed the relationship between daily satisfaction scores before injury and incidence of shoulder/elbow injury in high-school baseball pitchers in this prospective, time-to-event study. We collected baseline data on baseball experience, height, weight, elbow and shoulder range of motion, and shoulder muscle strength. The 108 enrolled participants aged 15-17 years were divided into satisfied (88) and unsatisfied (22) groups based on the Receiver operating characteristics analysis results that revealed the cutoff value to be 4 points. The incidence of injury was 10.2% and 50.0% in the satisfied and unsatisfied groups, respectively. We observed that high-school baseball pitchers with a low satisfaction significantly increased the risk of shoulder and elbow injuries: these players had a 7.3-times greater risk of injuries and a 1.9-times earlier occurrence of injuries than pitchers who are satisfied with their performance. High-school baseball pitchers who had low satisfaction with their pitching performance had higher risk of shoulder and elbow injuries and lower time to injury than satisfied pitchers. Daily evaluation of players’ self-satisfaction could predict shoulder and elbow injuries in high-school baseball pitchers.