The axillary nerve is frequently damaged and many mechanisms of the injury have been indicated, but reports on axillary neuropathy occuring in overused sports are rare. Thirty-five athletes with axillary neuropathy, who had a disability due to an overhead overused sports such as baseball, volleyball or tennis, were treated in our hospital from 1981 to 1989. All of the patients had sensory disturbances of the axillary nerve region, tenderness over the quadrilateral space and weakness of the deltoid muscle. The axillary nerve seemed to be entrapped at the quadrilateral space by the hypertrophied teres minor muscle in 17 patients. Twenty patients responded well to the conservative measures including rest, reform and injections of local anesthetic and a steroid compound. Ten patients with posterior ossifications of the glenoid were operated on. Resection of the osteophytes, combined with release of axillary nerve entrapment, restored their ability to pitch. We wish to emphasize that axillary neuropathy occurs frequently in overhead overused sports but it tends to be overlooked.
