Hip and Upper Leg Injuries in Baseball Players

A Brief Look at Injuries to Batters, Baserunners, and Position Players

Hip and Upper Leg Injuries

In this article you are going to learn about the following:

My own personal story about an anterior thigh injury I had in high school and what I wish I did to rehab the injury
Just how common hip and upper leg injuries are in high school, college, and professional baseball players
What you can start doing today to reduce the risk of these injuries!

Being a baseball player growing I was likely a lot like you when it came to thinking about baseball injuries. It seems like pitchers get all of the attention. Everywhere you look it is ‘arm care program’ this, or ‘prevent shoulder and elbow injuries’ this.

No one ever seems to talk about the other members of the baseball team, much less injuries to other body regions. Yet, as a PO (pitcher only) in high school it was not a shoulder or elbow injury that kept me on the bench for 4-6 weeks after the week of tryouts my sophomore year. It was a thigh injury!!

Want to guess what caused my injury? I’ll give you a hint, it wasn’t from pitching.

My injury was related to base running. When you are a pitcher, there is not a lot for you to do during tryouts. You throw your bullpen and that’s about it, maybe 30 minutes out of the entire week. So what did I do for the remainder of the week of tryouts? I ran the bases during situational drills for the position players.

DID YOU KNOW?

The 2nd most common injury in base runners in high school is a non-contact injury (aka running/sprinting) to the hip/thigh/upper leg classified as a muscle strain. It affects up to 14.8% of base runners in high school[1].

As it was tryouts and I was trying to impress the coaches, you bet I was running as hard as I could on every play. By the end of that week I had developed intense, sharp, shooting pain down the front of my thigh every time I tried to sprint or push off the mound. Unfortunately, I went to a sports medicine physician who had diagnosed me with “a bunch of micro tears” in my quadriceps muscles and instructed me to simply rest for 4-6 weeks. Needless to say, that was a big mistake I regret to this day. Now that I know more, I am 99% sure that I could have made a much faster recovery if I had started physical therapy immediately after the injury occured. Needless to say it was a very long and rough road to recovery for me that season.

FUN FACT: Reduce Time Loss From Injury Today!

It has been reported that the duration of soft tissue injuries can be reduced by as much as 3 WEEKS when rehab begins at day 2 vs. day 9 post-injury [2].

If you or your child has suffered an acute muscle strain give me a call today at 425-200-5330 to learn more about how I can help get you or your child back on the mound, field, or court faster. Furthermore, you’ll learn how to reduce your future injury risk.

In high school, muscle strains to the hip/thigh/upper leg is the most common injury in outfielders (12.0%) and 2nd most common injury in base runners (14.8%) [1]. In college, it is the most common injury in base runners (34.4%), catchers (14.1%), infielders (13.3%), and outfielders (14.5%) [1]. In professional baseball players, hamstring strains are the most common injury [3]. Take another look at those numbers. Amongst non-pitchers (the majority of a baseball team), muscle strains to the hip/thigh/upper leg is the #1 injury in collegiate baseball players.

Hamstring strains: typically acute sharp pain that will cause you to pull up mid stride

As you can see, this is a HUGE issue. Yet, no one ever seems to talk about it. What is the most likely cause of these injuries? Performing too much high intensity activity for too long a duration without adequate recovery. This is reinforced by the fact that the majority of these injuries are occuring during competition vs. practice where athletes are performing at a higher level of intensity and may not avoid things they otherwise would during practice.

Now that we know the WHY for these injuries, what can we do to prevent or at least minimize the risk of suffering these injuries?

For the key to learning more about how to reduce the risk of suffering muscle strain injuries let us go back to my own injury my sophomore year of high school. Prior to this season I did not do any off-season training and was only just getting into more competitive travel team play. That summer I was on a competitive travel team and when discussing my issues with a teammate I learned about Kirk Bradshaw over at Athletic Training Institute in Bellevue, WA. Kirk is a trainer specializing in sports performance for baseball players. After hearing so many great things about Kirk my dad signed me up to start training with him in the off-season. That year I gained over 15lbs of muscle and you know what did not happen? I did not get injured the subsequent season.

What my dad and I accidently stumbled upon was the benefits of resistance training for injury prevention. These benefits have been proven in the literature again and again when it comes to acute muscle strains. More specifically, eccentric training provides the most benefit for reducing acute muscle strains.

Eccentrics, What Are They?

Eccentric exercises are described as slow active lengthening of a muscle. A slow squat or slowly lowering yourself down a step are examples of an eccentric exercise or movement.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of 15 studies found that programs that included the Nordic hamstring exercise (a popular eccentric exercise) reduced the rate of hamstring injuries by 51%! [4]

The performance of just one exercise, the Copenhagen Adduction exercise, was found to decrease hip adductor/groin injuries by as much as 41%! [5]

As you can see, the addition of these simple eccentric exercises are extremely powerful when it comes to injury prevention and staying on the mound, field, or court. This is why eccentrics are a part of all my athletes and patients recovering from any injury or doing off-season performance training.

If eccentric exercises are not part of your program yet then you should definitely start implementing them today!*

Whether you are looking to start an off-season training program to increase your speed, velocity, and/or endurance, or you are recovering from a muscle strain injury in the past, Dr. Kirbach has the program for you.

Call 425-200-5330 today to learn more about how Dr. Kirbach can help improve your sport performance and reduce your injury risk.

Bibliography

Clifton, D. R., Hertel, J., Onate, J. A., Currie, D. W., Pierpoint, L. A., Wasserman, E. B., Knowles, S. B., Dompier, T. P., Comstock, R. D., Marshall, S. W. & Kerr, Z. Y. 2018. The First Decade of Web-Based Sports Injury Surveillance: Descriptive Epidemiology of Injuries in US High School Girls' Basketball (2005-2006 Through 2013-2014) and National Collegiate Athletic Association Women's Basketball (2004-2005 Through 2013-2014). J Athl Train 53: 1037-1048. doi: 10.4085/1062-6050-150-17.
Bayer, M. L., Magnusson, S. P. & Kjaer, M. 2017. Early versus Delayed Rehabilitation after Acute Muscle Injury. N Engl J Med 377: 1300-1301. doi: 10.1056/NEJMc1708134.
Okoroha, K. R., Conte, S., Makhni, E. C., Lizzio, V. A., Camp, C. L., Li, B. & Ahmad, C. S. 2019. Hamstring Injury Trends in Major and Minor League Baseball: Epidemiological Findings From the Major League Baseball Health and Injury Tracking System. Orthop J Sports Med 7: 2325967119861064. doi: 10.1177/2325967119861064.
van Dyk, N., Behan, F. P. & Whiteley, R. 2019. Including the Nordic hamstring exercise in injury prevention programmes halves the rate of hamstring injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 8459 athletes. Br J Sports Med 53: 1362-1370. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2018-100045.
Harøy, J., Clarsen, B., Wiger, E. G., Øyen, M. G., Serner, A., Thorborg, K., Hölmich, P., Andersen, T. E. & Bahr, R. 2019. The Adductor Strengthening Programme prevents groin problems among male football players: a cluster-randomised controlled trial. Br J Sports Med 53: 150-157. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2017-098937.

*Disclaimer* Improperly dosed and performed eccentric exercises can lead to significant post-exercise soreness. If you are unfamiliar with eccentric exercises it is recommended that you seek out a qualified professional, such as a physical therapist, before adding eccentrics into your exercise program.