Biomechanical Factors Associated with the Elbow Injury Risk in Throwing Athletes

The throw, a fundamental motor skill that can be more or less refined, is used as a motor gesture within a wide range of sports activities which culminate with the athletic throwing events. In this case, regardless of their basic mechanism, the final goal is to obtain a distance as long as possible between the place where the object is released and the place where it lands. In other sports disciplines, the throw is intended to place the object on a certain trajectory, towards a precise target. Finally, there is another category of sports (such as tennis and volleyball), in which some movements (the serve, for instance) are similar to the thrust-type throwing. Through their ballistic nature, they represent actions with an injuring potential on the athlete's shoulder and elbow. The present study aims to highlight the existing connection between some biomechanical aspects of throwing and the microtraumatic elbow pathology.