ST. LOUIS _ Could a shrimp hold the secret to keeping Cardinals pitchers healthy? With the help of Washington University researchers, the answer might be yes.
A group of professors, led by Spencer Lake, professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Washington U., have been awarded a $388,541 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a new imaging technique. Inspired by the eyes of the mantis shrimp, this technique could help treat and prevent a common elbow injury among baseball pitchers, which requires season-ending surgery.
One of the most devastating yet common injuries for baseball pitchers is a torn elbow ligament known as the UCL (ulnar collateral ligament).
"The overhand throwing motion is one of the fastest recorded human motions at almost 7,000 degrees per second," said Dr. Jeffrey Dugas, orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist at the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center in Birmingham, Ala. "To say that it puts a fair amount of stress on the arm would be an understatement."
The treatment for UCL tears is Tommy John surgery, a reconstruction procedure first performed in 1974 on the eponymous Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher. In this surgery, the elbow ligament is reconstructed using a ligament from elsewhere in the body, typically the wrist or knee, and reattached to the bone.
The number of Tommy John surgeries performed has skyrocketed in the past two decades. In the 2017 MLB season, 26 percent of active pitchers had undergone the surgery, according to Joe Roegele of the Hardball Times, a baseball writer who has been tracking Tommy John statistics.
Twenty-four Cardinals have had Tommy John surgery since its invention, the second-highest in Major League Baseball _ behind only the Atlanta Braves, at 26. This includes four pitchers in the past three seasons: Lance Lynn in 2015, Zach Duke in 2016, and Alex Reyes and Trevor Rosenthal in 2017.
Not only is the surgery expensive _ easily exceeding $15,000, not including extensive physical therapy _ but a team also loses the services of a valuable player.
Dr. Matthew Smith, professor of orthopedic surgery at Washington University School of Medicine and a collaborator on the new study, said that while Tommy John surgery has a high success rate, there is substantial room for improvement in the recovery time, which is typically 12-18 months.
UCL tears aren't just a problem at the professional level. "Since the mid- to late '90s there's been a big increase, and it's gotten younger," Dugas said. "Now we see it in high school kids all the time, and even junior high school kids."
Both Dugas and Smith cited the rise of year-round baseball and single-sport specialization of youth players as likely factors in the rise of these injuries in adolescents.
Pitch style and speed can also factor into the likelihood of injuring the UCL.
"We know that throwing a curveball or a change-up, they place different stresses on the arm," Dugas said.
