In 2013 Yahoo Sports reported that about one-third of pitchers in the MLB had undergone Tommy John Surgery. Unfortunately the number has been on the rise as of late, and the crisis is only expected to worsen in the near future. General Managers enter into every contract negotiation with their fingers crossed with the understanding that the risk in signing pitchers is significantly higher than any other position – primarily because of the potential health concerns.
Current notable players from an extensive list of who has had the procedure done include Stephen Strasburg, Adam Wainwright, Jose Fernandez, and Daisuke Matsuzaka. Some have had it done twice and Jason Isringhausen has had the procedure done an astounding three times!
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A few reasons exists as to why the number of cases have risen so quickly. One is simply because of the public spotlight. In the past, players opted against the surgery and instead just rehabbed the elbow. Now, with the mass movement towards the surgery and the established success rate, more are willing to go under the knife. A procedure that once was deemed very risky, is now believed to be completely successful in 85-92% of the cases. In fact, some say the procedure makes their arm stronger than it was before the injury.
Another possible contributing factor to the Tommy John epidemic is the intense pressure for younger pitchers to get a competitive edge and their subsequent overexertion. Kids are throwing harder than usual and more often – especially with offseason opportunities for them to throw even more than is healthy for a developing arm – and are suffering from the ensuing repercussions.
Dr. James Andrews – an orthopedic surgeon well-known for his operations on high profile professional athletes – informed of Major League Baseball’s helplessness in regards to the situation. He notes that because of the excess stress placed on the pitcher’s elbows in their younger years, the damage is done well before their first professional pitch.
Now researchers are taking a new technological route to better examine the causes and potential preventions of these devastating elbow injuries. Two Northwestern University biomedical engineers – James Buffi and Wendy Murray – have commenced a new approach, this time using digital tools to study the source of the wear and tear on a pitcher’s elbow.
James Buffi and Wendy Murray utilized digital modeling in a recent study to simulate how varying levels of muscle strength effect the elbow joint during the pitching motion. Data led the two to conclude that muscle strength has been an underrated component in research on elbow injuries and to heavily recommend more study on the group of muscles in addition to the traditional emphasis on rest and biomechanics.
Buffi informed that he and Murray built on computer-modeling techniques used in the past to examine arm and hand control for the development of cutting-edge prosthetic devices. They came up with a computer simulation of a pitcher’s throwing motion to examine the correlation between muscles and the ulnar collateral ligament – or UCL – by employing cadavers to calculate bone, muscle and ligament geometry and also putting to use muscle volume and strength measurements from live subjects.
Buffi and Murray’s extensive research led them to refute the theory that muscle development is irrelevant in the study of the elbow.
“There’s a camp (of baseball trainers) that say muscle development doesn’t matter and that it’s all about your mechanics,” notes Buffi. “Of course mechanics are important. But there’s a whole other layer on top of it all.”
A study conducted in 2012 disclosed an alarming finding that 5 percent of young pitchers suffer a serious elbow or shoulder injury within 10 years of starting the activity.
Researchers are optimistic that they will find an effective solution to reverse the trend of increased elbow injuries, as well as provide youth with the opportunity to play and enjoy the game of baseball with a reduced risk of elbow injury.