Baseball Injury Prevention: Shoulder & Elbow

Jonathon Strefling, DPT • Mar 06, 2023

 This prevention program has been shown to reduce shoulder and elbow injuries by 50% in youth baseball players.

The 2 most common injuries in youth baseball occur at the shoulder (21%) and the elbow (20%).


Two recent studies have shown very good results in regard to reducing shoulder & elbow injuries in youth baseball players. Not only that, but pitchers participating in the program also increased their ball speed over and above the control group.


Here are some of the details.

  • Study #1 Description

    • Implemented 2-3 times per week.
    • 8-11 year olds (over 300 total participants w/ a control group).
    • Consisted of 9 strengthening and 9 stretching exercises
    • Performed during warm-up or at home at least 1x/wk.
    • Results from as little as 3 months.

  • Results

    1. reduce injury rates (shoulder & elbow) by up to 50% compared to the control group.
    2. Increased total shoulder total rotation.
    3. Increased hip internal rotation of the nondominant side.
    4. Decreased thoracic (upper back) kyphosis angle.

  • Study #2 Description

    • Randomized 16 youth baseball teams consisting of 237 players aged 9 to 11 years into an intervention group (8 teams, 117 players) and a control group (8 teams, 120 players).
    • The intervention program consisted of 5 stretching, 2 dynamic mobility, and 2 balance training exercises performed during warm-up (10 minutes to perform).
    • Both groups were followed up for 12 months.

  • Results

    • Shoulder and elbow injuries in the prevention group was significantly lower (about 2x) than that in the control group.
    • Ball speed tended to increase in the prevention group as compared with the control group.
    • Prevention group also improved:
    1. Shoulder horizontal adduction deficits on the dominant side.
    2. Hip internal rotation on the nondominant side.
    3. Thoracic kyphosis angle.


The Exercises


The program is called the YKB-9 Injury Prevention Program. As you can see above, Study #1 used all 18 of the recommended exercises while Study #2 picked 9 of them.


Below are the two sets of 9 exercises. As you can see, some are working on the shoulder, but others on the upper back and hip flexibility. All of these together are important factors in regards to good pitching form.



We pray you find this helpful. Please use the buttons below if you would like more information.


Go steward your body well!

Study #1: Sakata J, Nakamura E, Suzuki T, Suzukawa M, Akaike A, Shimizu K, Hirose N. Efficacy of a Prevention Program for Medial Elbow Injuries in Youth Baseball Players. Am J Sports Med. 2018 Feb;46(2):460-469. doi: 10.1177/0363546517738003. Epub 2017 Nov 2. PMID: 29095655.


Study #2: Sakata J, Nakamura E, Suzuki T, Suzukawa M, Akeda M, Yamazaki T, Ellenbecker TS, Hirose N. Throwing Injuries in Youth Baseball Players: Can a Prevention Program Help? A Randomized Controlled Trial. Am J Sports Med. 2019 Sep;47(11):2709-2716. doi: 10.1177/0363546519861378. Epub 2019 Jul 23. PMID: 31336051.

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