hamate bone

Why are baseball players susceptible to fractured hamate bones? Because of the way baseball players grip their bats, with the knob resting right up against that little bony protrusion, they are more susceptible to potential hamate bone breaks than the average person.

Ulnar Nerve Compression The ulnar nerve passes through Guyon's canal near the hamate. Broken hamate bone fragments can damage this nerve—especially in undiagnosed fractures—causing numbness, tingling, and weakness in the related fingers.

Results. Our cohort of 81 patients had a median age of 22 years and was composed of 74 athletes including 57 baseball players, and 8 golfers. The median time to return to play was 6 weeks (range 1 – 36 weeks) after surgery; 11 patients (14%) had a return at 12 weeks or longer.

The most common symptoms that patients with a hamate fracture can present with include tenderness over the ulnar side of the palm, loss of grip strength and pain when swinging a gripped object [12].