Background: Major League Baseball (MLB) recently instituted a combine for their prospective players. Purpose/Hypothesis: The purpose of this study was to report initial epidemiological findings for both physical examination and imaging findings for the MLB Combine. It was hypothesized that most players would have no significant abnormal physical examination findings, but most would have abnormal findings on their shoulder and elbow magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Study Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Methods: All players who attended the 2023 MLB Combine were included. History was taken and physical examination was performed by an MLB team physician, and MRI of the shoulder, elbow, cervical spine, and lumbar spine was performed on all players and read by 1 of 2 musculoskeletal radiologists. Physical examination notes and imaging reports were reviewed by the authors and recorded. Data were analyzed separately for pitchers and position players. Results: Overall, 219 players (112 pitchers [51%], 107 position players [49%]) were included. The mean age was 20.4 ± 1.5 years. The majority of players (95%) had no current pain or limitations; 54 players (25%) had a history of previous surgery. For pitchers, 18% underwent previous elbow surgery. With regard to MRI, >80% of pitchers had some abnormality within their ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), the majority of which was UCL scarring/remodeling. 70% of pitchers and 60% of position players had evidence of an olecranon osteophyte. Increased signal within the ulnar nerve was common in pitchers (40%) but rare in position players (4%). For the shoulder, 95% of pitchers and 93% of position players had some rotator cuff abnormality (often tendinosis within the supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscles). Also, 75% of pitchers had MRI evidence of a superior labrum anterior to posterior (SLAP) tear, while 24% of position players demonstrated this. Lumbar spine MRI showed that 47% of position players had a disk protrusion and 46% had a previous pars fracture. Conclusion: Most baseball players who participated in the 2023 MLB Combine had MRI evidence of rotator cuff abnormalities, and many showed evidence of an olecranon osteophyte. Eighteen percent of pitchers had a previous history of elbow surgery. The majority of pitchers had some abnormality within their UCL and evidence of a SLAP tear on MRI scans.

中文翻译：

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美国职业棒球大联盟联合队的肌肉骨骼发现：“正常”潜在职业棒球运动员的描述

背景：美国职业棒球大联盟 （MLB） 最近为他们的潜在球员建立了一个联合体。目的/假设： 本研究的目的是报告 MLB 联合体格检查和影像学检查结果的初步流行病学发现。据推测，大多数球员没有明显的异常体格检查结果，但大多数人的肩部和肘部磁共振成像 （MRI） 扫描会有异常发现。研究设计： 描述性流行病学研究。方法： 包括所有参加 2023 年 MLB 联合赛的球员。记录病史并由 MLB 队医进行体格检查，对所有球员进行肩部、肘部、颈椎和腰椎的 MRI，并由 2 名肌肉骨骼放射科医生中的 1 名读取。作者回顾并记录体格检查记录。分别分析了投手和位置球员的数据。结果：总共包括 219 名球员 （112 名投手 [51%]，107 名位置球员 [49%]）。平均年龄为 20.4 ± 1.5 岁。大多数球员 （95%） 目前没有痛苦或限制;54 名球员 （25%） 有手术史。对于投手，18% 的人之前接受过肘部手术。关于 MRI，>80% 的投手尺侧副韧带 （UCL） 存在一些异常，其中大部分是 UCL 瘢痕形成/重塑。70% 的投手和 60% 的位置球员有鹰嘴骨赘的证据。尺神经内信号增加在投手中很常见 （40%），但在位置球员中很少见 （4%）。对于肩部，95% 的投手和 93% 的位置球员有一些肩袖异常（通常是冈上肌和冈下肌内的肌腱变性）。 此外，75% 的投手有 MRI 证据显示上盂唇前后 （SLAP） 撕裂，而 24% 的位置球员证明了这一点。腰椎 MRI 显示，47% 的位置球员有椎间盘突出，46% 有前帕骨折。结论：大多数参加 2023 年 MLB 联合赛的棒球运动员都有肩袖异常的 MRI 证据，其中许多人显示出鹰嘴骨赘的证据。18% 的投手以前有肘部手术史。大多数投手的 UCL 内有一些异常，并且在 MRI 扫描中有 SLAP 撕裂的证据。