Is There a Relationship Between Grip Strength and Injuries in Professional Baseball Players?

Background

Injuries in professional baseball players have become exceedingly common. Efforts to mitigate injury risk have focused on the kinetic chain, shoulder motion, and so forth. It is unclear whether grip strength is related to injury risk in professional baseball pitchers.

Purpose/Hypothesis

The purpose of this study was to determine if grip strength was a risk factor for injury. It was hypothesized that pitchers with weaker grip strength would have a higher likelihood of sustaining a shoulder or elbow injury compared with pitchers with stronger grip strength.

Study Design

Case-control study; Level of evidence, 3.

Methods

All professional pitchers from a single Major League Baseball organization were included. Dominant and nondominant grip strength were measured after each pitching outing throughout the 2022 season. Injuries over the course of the season were recorded, and data were compared between pitchers who sustained a shoulder or elbow injury and those who did not.

Results

Overall, 213 pitchers were included, of whom 53 (24.9%) sustained a shoulder or elbow injury during the season. The mean grip strength for all pitchers was 144.0 ± 20.8 lb (65.3 ± 9.4 kg). The mean dominant-arm grip strength was 142.6 ± 20.8 lb (64.7 ± 9.4 kg) for pitchers who did not sustain a shoulder or elbow injury and 148.2 ± 20.9 lb (67.2 ± 9.5 kg) for pitchers who did sustain an injury, with no significant group difference in grip strength (

Conclusion

There was no significant difference in mean grip strength or change in grip strength over the course of a single season between professional baseball pitchers who sustained a shoulder or elbow injury and those who did not.

Informations de copyright

© The Author(s) 2024.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

One or more of the authors has declared the following potential conflict of interest or source of funding: B.J.E. has received grant support from Arthrex, education payments from Arthrex and Smith+Nephew, consulting fees from Arthrex and DePuy Synthes, nonconsulting fees from Arthrex, and hospitality payments from Linvatec and Stryker. M.G.C. has received grant support from Arthrex and DJO. S.B.C. has received education payments from Liberty Surgical and consulting fees from Zimmer Biomet. AOSSM checks author disclosures against the Open Payments Database (OPD). AOSSM has not conducted an independent investigation on the OPD and disclaims any liability or responsibility relating thereto. Ethical approval for this study was obtained from Thomas Jefferson University (ref No. 22D.300).