A recent Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery study found that MLB pitchers who undergo two UCL reconstruction surgeries are better off than those who only go through one.
Here are six things to know:
1. MLB players are undergoing UCL reconstructions at increasing rates.
2. Literature on ideal post-reconstruction player workload to limit the risk of re-injury is limited, so researchers compared 28 MLB pitchers who required revision reconstruction after the initial surgery with 137 MLB pitchers who didn't require revision surgery.
3. Pitchers who required revision surgery pitched 14.1 percent more games after reconstruction whereas pitchers who didn't require revision pitched 13.6 percent fewer games than before reconstruction.
4. Inning workload was reduced by 9.8 percent following revision surgery (89.9 innings pitched after the surgery compared to 99.6 innings pitched before) while the pitchers who hadn't required revision surgery threw 26 percent fewer innings after the surgery (86.3 innings after the operation compared to 116.7 innings before).
5. Revision pitchers threw 6.6 percent more pitches after reconstruction (1,138.9 pitches) than they had thrown before reconstruction (1,068.6 pitches). Pitchers who hadn't required revision surgery threw 19.6 percent fewer pitches after reconstruction than they had beforehand.
6. Researchers concluded that MLB pitchers who require revision UCL reconstruction following primary UCL reconstruction tend to pitch at the same level or better than they had before the initial surgery. Pitchers who don't require revision surgery after an initial reconstruction tend to pitch below their previous workload standard.
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