On another board I am on I was astounded when someone posted the following question "Any medical folks on the board who have information about how to care for a 12U arm? Preventive ice, aspirin, running to get the blood flowing after pitching/catching? If ice, within how much time after the game and for how long? Our team has had a few sore arms and injuries so this has been on my mind for my son who often plays catcher. Thanks!"
I was floored! I knew icing eventually happened after years and years of bodily abuse, but at 12? When did your catcher and/or pitcher begin to ice?
Though recent studies now say that icing doesn't really help the healing process, and can even be detrimental to the healing process my son still ices. He started when he was about 10. 15 minutes of ice after throwing followed by 15 minutes off followed by another 15 mins of ice. You need the on off process to allow blood flow to return to normal for a while.
Joes87, do you feel this regiment has helped him? Did he ice because he was hurting, or just because you thought it was the thing to do? What kind of pitches was he throwing at age 10 that would have made you think to ice?