Prevention of Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) Injuries in Minor League Pitchers

September 25, 2024 updated by: Bruce Toby, MD, University of Kansas Medical Center

The Effect of Dynamic Stabilizers for Valgus Stability of the Elbow in Professional Baseball Players

This is a study of the muscle stabilizers of the elbow with respect to the prevention of Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) injuries in pitchers. Pitchers are assessed at spring training and end of season for approximately 5 years. Pronator, flexor digitoum superficialis (FDS), and wrist flexion strength will be measured and correlated with upper extremity injuries and time missed from pitching. The investigators will also be measuring loss of strength over the season. The goal is to learn whether strength in these muscles prevents UCL injuries and finally whether these muscles can be strengthened to avoid such injuries.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The goal of this study is to assess whether the strengths of the secondary muscular stabilizers toward valgus stress at the elbow, the wrist flexors, flexor digitorum superficialis, and pronator teres emanating from the medial epicondyle, affect the incidence of ulnar collateral ligament injuries of the elbows in pitchers. Pitchers in the minor leagues of a single professional baseball club will have the strength of these secondary muscular stabilizers assessed and then correlated to ulnar collateral ligament injuries and time missed from baseball season and subsequent seasons. A secondary goal is to assess whether strengthening exercises targeted toward these muscular stabilizers of the elbow can decrease the incidence of ulnar collateral ligament injuries in young baseball pitchers. This could impact the field by changing the emphasis from reconstruction and rehabilitation of ulnar collateral ligament injuries to prevention.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

175

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Kansas
      • Kansas City, Kansas, United States, 66160
        • University of Kansas Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Pitchers that are currently on a minor league baseball team.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Pitchers that currently have upper extremity injuries or are in active rehab for upper extremity injury.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Screening
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: Minor league pitchers
Minor league pitchers from a single professional baseball organization. Strength tests of the elbows will be administered at spring training and end of season for 5 years. If strength correlates to injury, strengthening and exercise programs may be established to target the stabilizers of the elbows.
Other: Strengthening program
Strengthening programs may be established to target the stabilizers of the elbows
Other: Exercise program
Exercise program may be established to target the stabilizers of the elbows.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
The Correlation of Strength to UCL Injuries in Minor League Pitchers
Time Frame: 5 years
After measuring strength of elbow stabilizers for up to five years, we will determine whether strength correlates with UCL injuries.
5 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
The Diminution of Strength in Minor League Pitchers
Time Frame: 5 years
We will measure the diminution of strength over the course of a baseball season.
5 years

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Kansas Medical Center

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: E B Toby, MD, University of Kansas Medical Center

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

February 1, 2014

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2021

Study Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 11, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 20, 2016

First Posted (Estimated)

April 25, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 27, 2024

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 25, 2024

Last Verified

September 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STUDY00000174

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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