quote:quote:
Originally posted by J H:
pitching is going to cause injury to the arm regardless.
No matter the particular age, body, fitness level, strength, flexibility, genetics, training, etc. of a specific individual, pitching a baseball is a unnatural, violent act. As the NY Times article I posted above explains, MRI's of "healthy" (i.e. asymptomatic) arms and shoulders show accumulative abnormalities regardless of whether the arm/shoulder hurts at that moment. As Josh wisely says: "pitching is going to cause injury to the arm regardless." Whether this violent act leads, five feet or five hundred miles down the road, to a debilitating injury is not always predictable or inevitable. But, as Johnny Mathis once sang, "Chances are..."
The best simple advice any young pitcher can follow is...
-work hard and maintain fitness
-get proper instruction
-listen to your growing body--discomfort/pain is a signal to be heeded
-eat when hungry
-rest when tired
-don't overdo it
And here are my own personal opinions, based on nothing more than a very limited set of experiences:
-there's no need to throw a curve ball before you're 15 years old and there's every reason to develop a change-up as early as possible
-take some time off from baseball every year
-play other sports--at least recreationally--on a regular basis
-have fun
Good read.