“Elbow” of baseball boys 17% of 6th graders have severe symptoms Surveyed at the national convention November 7 21:12

Examining elbows for athletes who participated in the national softball baseball tournament called “Elementary School Koshien”, about 17% of the 6th graders had severe symptoms that required immediate medical examination. The person is intensifying a sense of crisis, saying, “You have to do it without waiting.”

The All-Japan School Children's Softball Baseball Tournament, held at Jingu Stadium in August, is called the “Elementary School Koshien” where 51 teams from around 12,000 teams from all over the country compete to compete.

The All-Japan Softball Baseball Federation sponsored a test to examine the inside and outside bones of the elbow using ultrasound for 854 athletes from the 1st to 6th grades who will be almost all during the period. This was the first time.

As a result, 13% of 112 people had severe symptoms that needed immediate medical attention, such as elbow cartilage peeling. Of the 112 students, the highest grade 6th graders accounted for approximately 67%, 75.

In addition, the proportion of athletes with severe symptoms increases as the grade rises, with the exception of the first and second graders, where the number of students is small, and is about 17% for sixth graders. Some 60% of elbow abnormalities were found.

Toyo Munakata, managing director of the All-Japan Softball Baseball Federation, said, “It ’s a surprising number, and it seems to society that baseball is a terrible sport. I feel that I have to hit it without waiting.” It was.

This inspection and investigation

This time, after the opening ceremony, ultrasonic inspections and interviews were conducted, and 854 people from 51 teams participated.

An ultrasonography looked at the bones on the inside and outside of the elbow to see if there were any abnormalities, and if there were any abnormalities, the hospital confirmed that the symptoms had deteriorated enough to require a doctor.

A 6th grade boy who was advised to go to the hospital because of his elbow injury said, “I had never felt pain until now. I was talking.

In addition, the team manager of Tochigi Prefecture said, “Since some elbow injuries progress without pain, they can be discovered quickly if they have a medical examination. I want to be careful, such as managing the number of balls. "

In the interview survey, we examined 10 items such as whether you had a pain in your shoulders or elbows or if you had been treated at a hospital.

As a result, 315 people, 37% of the total responded that they had a pain in their shoulders and elbows, and 214, or one-fourth, said they had been treated at the hospital.

As for the team of 350 games a year

In order to prevent injuries caused by throwing too many pitchers, the All-Japan Soft Baseball Federation has introduced rules to limit the number of pitches to 70 balls per day from the all-Japan schoolchild soft baseball tournament. We ask each district's federation to introduce it.

However, it is only the official game that can limit the number of balls, and it is the responsibility of each team leader to take measures to prevent injury in practice and practice games.

The team that participated in the national tournament of the All-Japan Soft Baseball League surveyed the number of games per year. As a result, there were teams that managed 350 games per year, and there were 29 members and 300 teams per year. It means that.

These teams often have 3 to 4 games per day on Saturdays and Sundays.

The percentage of elbow symptoms worsened in this examination and the need for immediate medical examination was 6% for third and fourth graders, 11% for fifth graders, and 17% for sixth graders. Except for the first and second graders, which have a small number of students, the percentage increases as the grade increases.

The All-Japan Soft Baseball Federation is one of the factors that increase the risk of injury due to long hours of practice and overcrowding of practice games.

For this reason, in February, practice games must be less than 100 games a year, exercises must be less than 6 days a week, no more than 3 hours a day, and there should be at least 3 months of off-season. Mr. Toyotomi Munakata, Managing Director, said, “Practices and games are so crowded that coaches and coaches are instructed with a new feeling with the awareness that they are doing for the future of children. I think that is the most necessary. "