Baseball injuries to the hand.

We conducted an epidemiological and etiological study of softball injuries to the hand in order to inform emergency medicine personnel of the high frequency and causative factors of these injuries. Injuries to the hand and fingers from baseball and softball comprised 2.2% of emergency department visits during this study. Most frequent injuries were: 1) sprain and sprain-fracture of the proximal IP joint (31.6%); and 2) the so-called "mallet" or "baseball finger" injury to the distal joint (18.9%). The 16-inch softball was the cause of more than two-thirds of all these injuries, most of which occurred in patients between the ages of 11 and 30. Treatment recommendations are beyond the scope of this article.