Elbow Injuries on Rise Among Young Athletes

(Page 2)

The researchers also found that surgeries on athletes 18 and younger are becoming more common. They made up 12 of 97 patients before 1997, according to Cain. But high school students made up 62 of 188 operations in 2005.

"There's no question that this comes from specialization in single sports" in recent years, Cain said. "Even 10 to 15 years ago, it was uncommon for a young athlete to pick one sport at a young age and focus on that sport."

Gotlin said the study is useful, but he cautioned that "in the best of all worlds, we're talking about a 75 to 80 percent success rate."

What to do? "We should encourage young kids and athletes to cross train," Cain said. "There's no good reason for an 8-year-old child to play baseball year-round and specialize in baseball."

More information

For more about UCL injuries, try the American Sports Medicine Institute.