ulnar collateral ligament

Year-round sport, with the addition of numerous leagues, travel teams, showcase events and other opportunities for youth to play baseball outside of school, has contributed to a 10-fold increase in Tommy John surgery in the last decade, says an alarming new study.

While a recent study suggests that the harder a youth baseball pitcher throws, the greater may be the risk of elbow injury,  particularly to the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), and that pitching velocity should be factored into pitch counts in order to protect against injuries, pitch velocity is just one of many factors that increase injury risk.