title: Physeal changes and range-of-motion differences in the dominant shoulders of skeletally immature baseball players.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to document range-of-motion differences and radiographic changes in the dominant shoulder of skeletally immature throwers and to determine how pain associated with throwing may relate to these changes. Seventy-nine male youth baseball players (aged 8-15 years) completed a questionnaire, a shoulder examination, and a series of radiographs to determine physeal changes and humeral retroversion. Radiographs were reviewed and interpreted by a blinded musculoskeletal radiologist. Measurement of proximal humeral physeal width revealed a significant increase on the dominant side for the entire group, in subjects with a history of symptoms during the current season, and in subjects who had never had symptoms. Visual radiographic changes were commonly found in subjects with a history of pain (16/26 [62%]) as well as in those subjects without symptoms (29/53 [55%]). Subjects had increased external rotation of the dominant arm as compared with the nondominant arm, and this pattern increased in magnitude as the throwers aged. Range-of-motion and radiographic asymmetry of the shoulders is common, is often asymptomatic, and may represent adaptive changes in this population.
authors.affiliation: Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA.
authors.forename: Scott D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Mair
authors.forename: Tim L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Uhl
authors.forename: Rudy G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Robbe
authors.forename: Kathleen A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Brindle
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001484:Baseball / Q000293:injuries*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001846:Bone Development; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology*; D011859:Radiography; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular; D000070599:Shoulder Injuries; D012785:Shoulder Joint / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*