Fastpitch Softball Injuries: Epidemiology, Biomechanics, and Injury Prevention

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Fastpitch softball is one of the most popular sports among youth and high school female athletes. Despite some similarities to baseball, key differences between the two sports result in different injury patterns, and there is comparatively less literature describing injury epidemiology in fastpitch softball. The purpose of this review is to describe the epidemiology, biomechanics, and injury prevention efforts in regards to fastpitch softball injury with a particular focus on underhand pitching.

RECENT FINDINGS

The injury rate in softball is relatively low and extended time loss injuries in particular are uncommon. Lower extremity injuries are more common overall in softball, but pitchers more often suffer upper extremity injury. Pitchers account for a relatively small proportion of all injuries recorded, but represent a similarly small subset of team rosters, with most teams carrying only a few pitchers in total. The underhand pitching motion exerts significant glenohumeral distractive forces and high stress across the biceps-labrum complex. Core and lower extremity strengthening play an important role in injury prevention for softball pitchers and position players. Fatigue and number of games pitched are tied to increased strength deficiencies and pain in fastpitch softball pitchers, yet pitch count limits are not employed in any major fastpitch softball leagues. While overall injury incidence is low in fastpitch softball players, the potential for overuse injury in pitchers in particular is noteworthy and not nearly as scrutinized as within the baseball community. Critical longitudinal tracking of softball injuries at varying levels of play would be helpful to better understand the sport's injury risk. There are currently no formal pitch count limits enforced in a majority of fastpitch softball leagues. Core and lower extremity strengthening, pre-season conditioning, and monitoring of pitchers for signs of fatigue may be helpful in injury prevention.

Influential Articles on Pediatric and Adolescent Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries: A Bibliometric Analysis

BACKGROUND

The understanding of pediatric anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries and optimal treatment has evolved significantly. Influential articles have been previously evaluated using article citations to determine impact.

PURPOSE

To identify and characterize the 50 most cited and recent influential articles relating to pediatric and adolescent ACL injuries, to examine trends in publication characteristics, and to evaluate correlations of study citations with quality of evidence.

STUDY DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

METHODS

The top 50 most cited articles on pediatric and adolescent ACL injuries were gathered using the Web of Science and Scopus online databases by averaging the number of citations from each database. Articles from recent years were also aggregated and sorted by citation density (citations/year). Publication and study characteristics were recorded. Level of evidence and methodologic quality were assessed where applicable using the modified Coleman Methodology Score (mCMS), modified Jadad scale, and Methodological Index for Non-Randomized Studies (MINORS). Spearman correlation was used to evaluate the association between citation data and level of evidence or methodologic quality scorings.

RESULTS

The top 50 cited papers had a mean of 117.5 ± 58.8 citations (range, 58.5-288.5 citations), with a mean citation density of 9.4 ± 5.4 citations per year (range, 2.9-25.8 citations/year); 80% were published in 2000 or later, and 6% were considered basic science. Articles were mainly level 4 evidence (27/42; 64.3%), and none was level 1. There were moderate, significant associations between publication year and level of evidence (r S = -0.45; P = .0030) and citation density and publication year (r S = 0.59; P < .001). Mean methodologic quality scores were as follows: mCMS, 53 ± 7.2 (range, 39-68); modified Jadad scale, 3.2 ± 1.1 (range, 2-6); and MINORS, 11.2 ± 3.2 (range, 6-20). There was a significant, strong correlation between rank of mean citations and modified Jadad scale (r S = 0.76; P < .0001), suggesting poorer score associated with more mean citations.

CONCLUSION

Influential articles on pediatric and adolescent ACL injuries were relatively recent, with a low proportion of basic science-type articles. Most of the studies had a lower evidence level and poor methodologic quality scores. Higher methodologic quality did not correlate positively with citation data.

Influential and Highest Cited Shoulder Instability Articles: A Bibliometric Analysis

Background

In orthopaedic surgery and other fields, the effect of influential journal articles has been evaluated by their citation counts and their correlation with methodological quality.

Purpose

To identify and characterize the 50 most cited articles on shoulder instability, examine trends in publication characteristics, and evaluate the correlation of citations with quality of evidence.

Study Design

Cross-sectional study.

Methods

The Web of Science and Scopus online databases were searched to identify the top 50 most cited articles on shoulder instability, based on the average number of citations from each database. Article characteristics were recorded, and level of evidence and methodological quality were assessed using the modified Coleman Methodology Score (mCMS), Jadad scale, and Methodological Index for Non-Randomized Studies (MINORS). Spearman correlation was used to evaluate relationships between citations or citation density (citations/y) and level of evidence or methodological scoring. Top cited articles from recent years were also aggregated.

Results

The top 50 most cited papers had a mean ± SD number of citations of 381.5 ± 166.7, with a mean of 15.0 ± 8.8 citations/y. Overall, 15 articles (30%) were biomechanical/cadaveric studies, and 15 (30%) were case series. Only 3 (6%) were considered to have level 1 evidence. The mean ± SD mCMS was 54.4 ± 12.7, mean ± SD Jadad score was 3.1 ± 1.4, and mean ± SD MINORS score was 10.5 ± 3.3. There were no significant correlations between citation rank or density and methodological assessments. There were weak correlations between citation rank and publication year (r _s = 0.32; P = .022) and between rank and level of evidence (r _s = -0.38; P = .047). The correlation between citation density and publication year was moderate (r _s = 0.70; P < .0001). There was no difference in citation density of the top 10 articles from 2010 to 2020 compared with the top 10 from the overall list (23.8 ± 5.3 vs 28.8 ± 9.5; P = .16).

Conclusion

Influential articles in shoulder instability included a high proportion of biomechanical/cadaveric studies. The majority of top cited articles had lower evidence levels and poorer methodological quality without strong correlation with citations or citation density. There was a moderate correlation between citation density and year of publication.