Baseball and joints

Randy Johnson, one of the legendary baseball pitchers in the United States, throws a ball in this file photo. He decided to retire after suffering from an injury for a long time. / AP-Yonhap

By Song Sang-ho

The curtain of the 3rd World Baseball Classic Finals will finally rise today. I enjoy watching it on and off although I am not a huge fan of baseball. Seeing our players match their skills with big players from other countries is also exciting. An acquaintance of mine told me that he isn’t making any dinner appointment schedules in March in order to watch the WBC, which made me realize how popular it is.

Baseball fans in Korea are especially eager for the WBC this year because they had a feeling of frustration, with the country ending up coming second place in the “2nd World Baseball Classic Competition.” Our national baseball players are also taking maximum care of their health in an effort to achieve a good result.

In fact, as a specialist in orthopedic surgery, I become most nervous when managing players. Baseball is one of the sports with a high risk of injury. Baseball includes lots of throwing, swinging, running and rolling, exposing players to the risk of joint injuries. U.S. baseball pitcher Randy Johnson, who could throw a ball at a speed of 150 kilometers per hour suffered for a long time because of a back injury sustained during a game, and finally decided to retire from the mound. Joint injuries always afflict baseball players.

A herniated lumbar disc that troubled Randy Johnson is often found in baseball players who are required to exert a strong rotation action from the waist when throwing and batting the ball. When performing these actions, the spine and pelvis have a huge influence on athletic performance because they help provide stability and strength while at the same time generating rotational force. Generally, prompting a strong force by using the driving force and rotational power of the waist and not moving the pelvis is known as a good posture. However, this motion puts considerable pressure on the waist, potentially causing damage to the lumbar disc. A herniated lumbar disc is really lethal to a player because it might make it impossible for a victim to walk in the event that it generates severe pain that ranges from the waist to the leg.

The shoulders are also a common, unavoidable area of damage for players. According to the data presented by a domestic research institute in 2009, the frequency of damage was found to be overwhelmingly high in pitchers, followed by infielders and outfielders. Particularly, in the event that a pitcher throws a ball relying on their arm due to fear of pain in the waist, it might lead to damage in the shoulders and elbows.

The shoulder joints have the biggest movable range in our body. They have a ball-shaped humeral head stuck in the glenoid cavity that covers only one fourth of the humeral head; thus, the shoulder joint has a structure with low stability in spite of its broader movable range. One of the injuries that often tortures pitchers is SLAP lesion. The superior labrum is linked to the long tendon of the biceps of the arm, and is prone to damage because it is loosely attached to the bone.

There are many cases in which some pitchers play a game with their mouth shut tight in order to throw a blazing fastball. Such a habit can cause a temporomandibular disorder. This can lead to pain in the head, neck, and shoulders, etc. Special attention should be paid to it because it can develop into chronic pain from which one cannot properly open the mouth and even pain in the frontal side of the ears if such a pain is left unattended for a long period of time.

Meanwhile, baseball hitters mostly come to get injuries such as a cruciate ligament rupture of the knee while running or sliding. Not long ago, it was reported in the press that the first baseman Matt Gamel in the U.S. professional baseball major league was likely to be out for the 2013 season due to such an injury in his knees. The anterior cruciate ligament linking the thigh bone and a fibula is strong, but it can easily be torn by external shocks because it is thin and vulnerable to twisting.

Cheering by baseball fans is ever more enthusiastic. However, I am somewhat concerned that such ardent support might be a burden on our players. I would like to tell players that the fans’ heated cheering is not a demand for a championship trophy but for the players themselves. No fan would only want a championship trophy regardless of injuries sustained by players.

The writer is the president of Wellton Bone & Joint Hospital.