Ulnar Collateral Ligament Injuries

Historically, it has been reported that 17% of young baseball players will experience elbow pain in their dominant elbow. 1 More recent data from 2014 showed that there was a 2-fold increase in adolescent baseball players who experience elbow pain at some point during their careers. 2 In adolescents 15 to 19 years old, the incidence of ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction (UCLR) has been reported as 6.3 per 1000. 3 Over the last 15 years, there has been a greater than 300% increase in UCLR, which represents a disproportionate increase compared with other injuries. 3,4 Even worse, projections indicate that these numbers will continue to rapidly increase over the next 5 to 10 years at a minimum. 3.