The Ultrasonographic measurements of shoulder and elbow joint cartilage thickness in young baseball players

Abstract

Introduction. The carttilage of most joints can be visualized with ultrasonography (US). There is increasing evidence for US being highly sensitive to early changes of joints in osteochondropathies, especially in young athletes. Early detection of cartilage alteration would allow the orthopaedists to initiate relevant therapies as is essential for long-term outcomes. Objectives. To measure the cartiglage thickness in shoulder and elbow joints in young baseball players. Materials and methods. A total of 19 pitchers were included in the study. All were right-handed. Each participant underwent shoulder and elbow ultrasonography with 12-MHz linear array transducer using a GE ultrasound machine (Logiq 7). After placement the arm posteriorly the articular cartilage thickness of the humeral head (CTHD) was assessed 1 cm laterally from the intracapsular part of the long tendon of biceps brachii. The cartilage thickness of the humeral capitellum (CTHC) in stretched elbow was performed. Spearman rank correlation coefficient, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used with MedCalc v.11.4.2.0. Results. the mean age of participants was 12.6±1.5 years. The mean pitching time was 3.1±1.8 years. In total, 38 joints were evaluated. 9 of 19 boys (47.4%) complain of joint pain. CTHD was 1.7±0.05 mm in the throwing arm and 1.7±0.05 mm in the non-throwing arm (P=0.77), CTHC – 2.1±0.4 mm, respectively (P=0.66). [...].