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Landing legs of MLB pitchers were more commonly injured among those with hamstring injuries
Although investigators who studied Major League Baseball pitchers who sustained hamstring injuries found the landing leg was more commonly injured than the drive leg, they found no statistically significant difference in time on the disabled list between players who injured either leg. The findings could have implications for ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction.
“The data does not tell us why the landing leg was more commonly injured, but the landing leg must eccentrically contract during the pitching motion and this may put it at increased risk of injury compared with the drive leg, which concentrically contracts during the pitching motion,” study author Daniel R. Howard, MD, told Healio.com/Orthopedics. “We did not find a significant difference in time lost to injury between pitchers who sustained hamstring injuries to the drive leg or the landing leg.”
Howard and his colleagues analyzed public information to identify time lost due to hamstring injuries among MLB pitchers based on disabled list transactions. During 10 MLB seasons, 78 disabled list stints for hamstring injuries were reported.
Investigators found 67.9% of injuries were obtained in the landing leg. Investigators found no significant differences regarding patient demographics and mechanism of injury between pitchers who injured their landing vs. drive legs.
Overall, investigators noted more research must be conducted to determine if there is a difference between performance or future injury after hamstring tendons are harvested from the drive leg or the landing leg for UCL reconstruction among MLB pitchers.
“A previous study has shown that most MLB team physicians prefer to use the contralateral (landing) leg if they need to harvest a semitendinosus tendon for UCL reconstruction, usually because they believed that the landing leg is less required to generate a forceful pitch,” Howard said. “At this point, it is unclear what the effects on future injury risk and performance might be in MLB pitchers who have graft harvest from their landing leg vs. their drive leg.” – by Amanda Palma
Disclosures: Howard reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the study for all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.