Hamstring injuries are the second most common injury causing missed days in professional baseball field players. Recent studies have shown the preventive benefit of eccentric conditioning on the hamstring muscle group in injury prevention. Specifically, Nordic-type exercises have been shown to decrease the incidence of acute hamstring injuries in professional athletes.
Purpose
This was a prospective study performed in coordination with a single Major League Baseball (MLB) organization (major and minor league teams) that targeted the effects of Nordic exercises on the incidence of acute hamstring injuries in the professional-level baseball player.
Methods
The daily workouts of 283 professional baseball players throughout all levels of a single MLB organization were prospectively recorded. The intervention group participated in the Nordic exercise program and was compared with a randomly selected control group of professional athletes within the organization not participating in the exercise program. The incidence of hamstring injuries in both groups was compared, and the total number of days missed because of injury was compared with the two previous seasons. Read the full study.
Richard A. Seagrave III, MD; Luis Perez, CSCS; Sean McQueeney, PT, DPT, SCS, ATC, CSCS; E. Bruce Toby, MD; Vincent Key, MD and Joshua D. Nelson, MD, PharmD, Investigation performed at the University of Kansas Medical Center