Pitching can spell mounds of trouble

As the 2008 professional baseball season begins, pitchers will stand atop regulation-height 10-inch mounds to wind up.

Then they’ll stride, cock their arms, accelerate, decelerate and follow through to release a ball that can reach speeds of 100 mph.

Now, a motion-analysis study of 20 elite pitchers from the major leagues and NCAA Division I-A college teams suggests that a 10-inch mound, also standard for college and high school baseball, might contribute to injuries.

The stresses on the shoulders and elbows of pitchers were greater from the standard-height mound than from flat ground, according to a presentation at a Major League Baseball Team Physicians Association meeting.

“That greater stress can result in injury to the shoulder, including tearing of the rotator cuff,” says lead researcher Dr. William Raasch of the Medical College of Wisconsin, physician for the Milwaukee Brewers.

“We can’t say that those different stresses are … resulting in all the injuries we see,” he says, and there’s not enough evidence to recommend lowering the mound. But he suggests that pitchers with injuries practice on flat ground.

“If you have young kids struggling from the mound, get them onto flat ground,” he says. “Wait till they get better.”