Orthopedics & Rheumatology

Correspondence:

Received: January 01, 1970 | Published: ,

Citation: DOI:

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Editorial

Baseball is the most popular professional sports in US, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Lots of countries have amateur baseball league and is one of the most popular sports in their country. Among lots of sports, overuse injuries are most common in baseball. Of course other sports (for example, European football) have overuse injuries, but it is not as common as baseball. Serious problem about overuse injuries in baseball player is that it can finish the player’s baseball career.
Especially the overuse injury is a major concern in adolescent players. Because they are still skeletally immature, we need special care to protect them from injuries. Pitchers are most vulnerable to the overuse injuries. According to articles, only 26% of little league pitchers answered that their arm never hurt when they throw. But more serious problem was that 46% of the players with painful arm answered to be encouraged to keep throwing despite having arm pain. Fortunately, little league in US adopted new rules from 2007 and reflecting latest researches to limit the number of pitches (Table 1). Not only the limiting the number of pitches per day, but also they are giving detailed manual how many days of rest is required according to the number of previous pitch. Thanks to these regulations, unofficial research has published that little league shoulder and elbow injuries were decreased to 50%.

Age	Daily Max (Pitches)	Required Rest (Pitches)	Required Rest (Pitches)	Required Rest (Pitches)	Required Rest (Pitches)	Required Rest (Pitches)
		0 Days	1 Day	2 Days	3 Days	4 Days
7-8	50*	1-20	21-35	36-50	N/A	N/A
9-10	75*	1-20	21-35	36-50	51-65	66+
11-12	85*	1-20	21-35	36-50	51-65	66+
13-14	95*	1-20	21-35	36-50	51-65	66+
15-16	95*	1-30	31-45	46-60	61-75	76+
17-18	105	1-30	31-45	46-60	61-75	76+