ArticleSports health
Results of a National Survey on Sport Specialization Behavior and Throwing Arm Injury in Youth Softball Players.
Article in Sports health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Prevention strategies and modifiable risk factors for upper extremity injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis for the Female, woman and/or girl Athlete Injury pRevention (FAIR) consensus.British journal of sports medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Early Sport Specialization in a Pediatric Population: A Rapid Review of Injury, Function, Performance, and Psychological Outcomes.Clinics and practice · 2025Review
- Sustainable performance plan development to prevent non-contact ACL injuries in youth and adolescent athletes: a clinical practice review.Annals of joint · 2025Review
- Injury Risk Factors Related to Sport Specialization in High School Basketball: A Prospective Study.Journal of athletic training · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThere are few data on throwing arm and shoulder injury in youth softball athletes, and no data on the influence of sport specialization on injury in softball. HYPOTHESIS: We hypothesized that highly specialized athletes, and pitchers in particular, demonstrating various sport specialization behaviors would be more likely to report an upper extremity overuse injury in the previous 12 months. STUDY
designCross-sectional survey. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level 4.
methodsAn online, anonymous, cross-sectional survey was distributed to a national sample of female youth softball players between the ages of 12 and 18 years in fall 2021. Topics included were indicators of sport specialization and self-reported injuries to the throwing arm.
resultsA total of 1309 participants (mean age, 15.1 ± 1.7 years) completed the survey; 19.4% (N = 254) scored as highly specialized, 69.7% (N = 912) as moderately specialized, and 10.9% (N = 143) with low specialization. Of all participants, 27.3% (N = 357) pitched in the previous year. A minority of all players (43.7%; N = 572) reported arm injury in the previous 12 months, with 45.9% of pitchers (N = 164) reporting the same. Multivariate regression showed increased adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of injury history for athletes playing >30 games per year (aOR, 1.74; 95% CI, 1.26-2.40), participating on a club team (aOR, 3.36; 95% CI,1.85-6.07), and in pitchers participating on club teams (aOR, 2.97; 95% CI, 1.18-7.45). Decreased aOR of injury was noted in those participating in >8 months of softball per year (aOR, 0.25; 95% CI, 0.12-0.51) and in pitchers who were moderately specialized (aOR, 0.39; 95% CI, 0.17-0.92) and playing >8 months per year (aOR, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.11-0.96).
conclusionThis sample provides a large proportion of athletes classified as high or moderately specialized in youth softball (89%). A large proportion (43.7%) of subjects reported arm injury in the past year, and insight into injury risk is provided. The results present conflicting data on the risk versus protective effect of specialization in youth softball athletes. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: This project is a first step toward understanding sport specialization behavior and its influence on injury in youth softball.
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