El Paso Doctor Involved In Study Of MLB Injuries; Pitchers More Prone To Injuries

Researchers who studied Major League Baseball data for the 2002-’08 seasons said pitchers had significantly higher injury rates than fielders, according to a report on Web MD.

The study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine in Providence, R.I. According to the study, pitchers spent a greater proportion of days on the disability list, 62.4 percent, compared to 37.6 percent for fielders.

?Even though baseball is a passion of many people and our national pastime, there is very little information about the epidemiology, characteristics, or distribution of injuries in Major League Baseball,? Maj. Matthew Posner, MD, said in a news release. Posner is an orthopaedic surgeon at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso. Posner and colleagues analyzed MLB disabled list data from a single web site for the years 2002-2008, then calculated the frequency and proportional distribution of injuries by anatomic region, league (American or National), time of season, and position, according to the Web Md report.

During the period examined, pitchers were 34 percent more likely than fielders to be injured before the All-Star break. Also, 77 percent of all injuries to pitchers happen before the All-Star game.

Read the full Web MD article, which includes more data findings, here.