title: Shoulder functional performance status of Minor League professional baseball pitchers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The Overhead Shoulder and Elbow Score (Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic [KJOC] score) among healthy or uninjured professional baseball pitchers is lacking. We hypothesized that shoulder function and performance status measured by the KJOC score among active Minor League professional baseball pitchers were high at pre-participation and that the pitchers who had not been previously treated for a shoulder injury and were playing without arm trouble had significantly higher KJOC scores than their counterparts.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this cross-sectional survey, data on pre-participation KJOC scores, along with other study measures, were collected from a cohort of Minor League professional baseball pitchers. Generalized estimating equations with a Poisson distribution were used for analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 366 Minor League professional pitchers were included, with a mean KJOC score of 92.8 points (SD, 12.1 points), suggesting that participating pitchers' shoulder function and performance were high. Participating pitchers who had not received treatment for a shoulder injury had significantly higher KJOC scores than those who had received treatment, either surgical or nonsurgical (β = 0.0238, P = .0495). In addition, pitchers who were not currently injured, were playing without arm trouble, or had not missed games in the past 12 months because of a shoulder injury also had statistically significantly higher KJOC scores than their counterparts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides an empirical profile of the KJOC score for a large sample of active Minor League professional baseball pitchers and identifies risk factors associated with decreased KJOC scores.
authors.affiliation: Scripps Clinic Medical Group, La Jolla, CA, USA. Electronic address: Fronek.Jan@scrippshealth.org.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fronek
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Jingzhen Ginger
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Sports Medicine & Orthopaedic Surgery, Orlando Health Orthopedic Institute, Orlando, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Daryl C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Osbahr
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Keshia M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Pollack
authors.affiliation: Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Neal S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: ElAttrache
authors.affiliation: Steadman Hawkins Clinic, Denver, CO, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Noonan
authors.affiliation: Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Stan A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Conte
authors.forename: Bert R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Mandelbaum
authors.affiliation: Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Lewis A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Yocum
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001484:Baseball; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D012782:Shoulder; D012785:Shoulder Joint; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Baseball; KJOC score; professional pitchers; shoulder