Sonographic evaluations in elite college baseball athletes

Area of Science:

• Orthopedics
• Sports Medicine
• Diagnostic Imaging

Background:

• Elite athletes, particularly baseball players, are susceptible to shoulder injuries.
• Understanding sonographic differences between injured, uninjured athletes, and controls is crucial for injury prevention and management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare shoulder sonographic findings, including tendon thickness and subacromial space width, between elite college baseball athletes (injured and uninjured) and healthy controls.
• To identify sonographic abnormalities associated with shoulder injury history in athletes.

Main Methods:

• Sonographic assessment of biceps and supraspinatus tendon thickness, subacromial space width (frontal and scapular planes), and abnormal findings.
• Comparison of measurements and findings across three groups: injured athletes (n=42), uninjured athletes (n=12), and healthy controls (n=16).

Main Results:

• Athletes exhibited significantly greater biceps/supraspinatus tendon thickness and subacromial space width than controls (P<0.004).
• Acromioclavicular joint bulging, biceps tendon degeneration, and infraspinatus tendon degeneration/cortical irregularity were more frequent in injured athletes (P<0.05).
• Only infraspinatus tendon degeneration correlated with injury history; other findings were similar across groups.

Conclusions:

• Athletes demonstrate distinct sonographic shoulder characteristics compared to non-athletes.
• While some abnormalities are more common in injured athletes, infraspinatus tendon degeneration is the primary indicator of injury history.
• Further longitudinal studies are needed to clarify the clinical significance of these sonographic findings in asymptomatic athletes.