Research summary · Injury prevention
Elbow-joint spacing after a single pitching session
Thirty-four healthy high-school players were randomized to 100 maximal-effort fastballs or equivalent-duration rest. Ultrasound assessed medial elbow spacing, and exploratory analyses examined childhood sport participation.
- Publication year
- 2026
- First published online
- Publication type
- Randomized controlled laboratory trial
- Journal
- The Physician and Sportsmedicine
- Population / context
- Male high-school baseball players
What the publication reports
The group-by-time comparison was not statistically clear. Mean spacing increased 0.2 millimetres in pitchers, below the study's distribution-based threshold. Earlier multisport participation was associated with smaller changes, but was not randomized.
Limits and interpretation
A small acute study using an imaging surrogate cannot establish that 100 pitches are safe or justify changing pitch limits. Its statistical threshold is not a validated injury threshold, and the multisport association does not demonstrate protection.
Read the source
Consult the original record for the full author list, methods, references, funding and competing-interest disclosures.
Medial elbow joint space gap after 100 pitches and early multi-sport participation in high school baseball players: a randomized controlled trial
Original publication / indexed recordPMID: 42082441DOI: 10.1080/00913847.2026.2667726Reader discussion
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