Increased Knee and Meniscal Injury Incidence in Professional Baseball Pitchers With Wider, Positive Stride Width

Abstract

Background: Professional baseball pitchers sustain 75% of knee injuries while at the pitcher’s mound, yet no pitching motion has been associated directly with such injuries. Stride width is a potential, modifiable risk factor worth investigating. Hypothesis: Increased stride width in both the positive and negative directions (deviations from neutral stride width) would correlate with increased incidence of knee injury in pitchers. Study Design: Descriptive laboratory. Level of Evidence: Level 5. Methods: Professional pitchers (n = 199) were evaluated with motion capture (480 Hz) while pitching. Injury history over 10 years was recorded at face-to-face interviews with pitchers. Players were subsequently grouped into stride width tertiles, compared for previous injury incidence of the lower extremities. Regressions were performed to observe performance benefits of stride width with ball velocity, accuracy, or consistency in pitch location as secondary outcomes. Results: Of the 40 lower extremity injuries reported, meniscal injury (27.5%) was the most common, followed by foot stress fracture (20.0%). Significant differences in injury incidence were noted between the least and most positive stride width tertiles: lower extremity (10.4% vs 25.8%, respectively; P = 0.03), knee (3.0% vs 15.2%, respectively; P = 0.02), and meniscal (0.0% vs 12.1%; P = 0.00). Stride width of pitchers with meniscal injury in the lead (32.6 ± 7.1 cm, n = 5; P = 0.02) and stance leg (33.5 ± 10.6 cm, n = 5; P = 0.03) was significantly more positive than that of uninjured pitchers (21.1 ± 11.5 cm, n = 164). No significant relationships were established between stride width and ball velocity ( P = 0.54) or pitch location metrics ( P > 0.05). Conclusion: Pitchers with increased positive, stride width had significantly higher incidence of lower extremity injury (knee and meniscus). Wider, positive stride width may increase the degree of external rotation on the lead knee in a loaded state, which can place the medial side of the knee (and meniscus) at higher risk of injury. Clinical Relevance: Decreasing stride width may be beneficial for professional pitchers to reduce the rate of lower extremity injury, while also preserving performance metric outcomes.