ReviewSports health
The Development of Humeral Retrotorsion and Its Relationship to Throwing Sports.
Review in Sports health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Shoulder Range of Motion and Baseball Arm Injuries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of athletic training · 2018Pooled it
- The Relationship Between Humeral Torsion and Arm Injury in Baseball Players: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Sports healthPooled it
- Prediction of humeral torsion from proximal humerus computed tomography is enabled by three-dimensional estimation of the transepicondylar axis using deep learning.JSES international · 2026Article
- The Relationship Between Relative Humeral Retrotorsion Difference and Shoulder Strength Measures in Collegiate Baseball Athletes.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2026Article
- Influence of Humeral Retrotorsion on Glenohumeral Range of Motion in Healthy Collegiate Softball Players.International journal of sports physical therapy · 2026Article
- Humeral retrotorsion corrected glenohumeral external rotation deficits are present in medial ulnar collateral ligament injured and uninjured college baseball players.JSES international · 2026Article
- The Use of a Handheld Ultrasound Device to Measure Humeral Retrotorsion in Baseball and Softball Athletes: A Validation Study.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2026Article
- Risk Factors and Injury Prevention in the Throwing Athlete.Arthroscopy, sports medicine, and rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Descriptive Report of Injuries Sustained by Secondary School Baseball Players Categorized by Community-Level of Socioeconomic Status.Journal of athletic training · 2025Article
- Ultrasonographic humeral retrotorsion comparisons in youth gymnasts.JSES international · 2025Article
- Postoperative Rehabilitation Following Subscapularis Repair and Biceps Tenodesis in an Adolescent Overhead Athlete: A Resident's Case Report.International journal of sports physical therapy · 2025Article
- The Role of Humeral Torsion on Glenohumeral Rotation in Injured Baseball Players.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2024Article
- A narrative review of little league shoulder: proximal humeral physis widening is only one piece of the puzzle, it is time to consider posterior glenoid dysplasia.JSES international · 2024Review
- Chronic Effects of Pitching on Muscle Thickness and Strength of the Scapular Stabilizers in Professional Baseball Players.Sports health · 2023Article
- Bilateral glenohumeral internal rotation deficit (GIRD) in elite gymnasts.Archives of orthopaedic and trauma surgery · 2023Article
- Residual Effects of Glenohumeral Range of Motion, Strength, and Humeral Retroversion on Prior Overhead Athletes After Cessation of Sport.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2022Article
- Rehabilitation and Return to Play of the Athlete after an Upper Extremity Injury.Arthroscopy, sports medicine, and rehabilitation · 2022Article
- ASSESSMENT OF HUMERAL TORSION BY PALPATION IN BASEBALL PITCHERS: A VALIDATION STUDY.International journal of sports physical therapy · 2020Article
- THE EFFECT OF HUMERAL RETROTORSION ON PITCH VELOCITY IN YOUTH BASEBALL PLAYERS.International journal of sports physical therapy · 2020Article
- The throwing shoulder in youth elite handball: soft-tissue adaptations but not humeral retrotorsion differ between the two sexes.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
contextSeveral investigations have noted that throwing athletes exhibit a more posteriorly oriented humeral head (humeral retrotorsion) in the dominant arm. This asymmetry is believed to represent an adaptive response to the stress of throwing that occurs during childhood. The significance of this alteration and factors that affect its development are currently not clear. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: Basic science, research studies, and review articles were searched through PubMed with search terms including humeral torsion, humeral retrotorsion, and with 1 of the following: pediatric, adult, baseball, pitching, shoulder, and range of motion. The references from each article were reviewed for further inclusion. This review included articles through March 2015. STUDY
designClinical review. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level 4.
resultsThe throwing motion creates stressors that result in bony adaptations that occur while skeletally immature. These osseous changes likely contribute to the observed shift in the arc of rotational range of motion noted in throwing athletes and may play a protective role against injury. However, too much or too little retrotorsion may predispose the shoulder to injury. The degree of "optimal" humeral retrotorsion and factors that influence its development are not fully understood.
conclusionEvidence supports the assertion that the throwing motion creates stressors that alter bony anatomy while young. It is important to determine what specific factors affect this adaptation and its relationship to injury.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.