My son has had a long history of back problems that at times have sidelined him from playing sports, mostly with basketball. We used to wonder if it was some kind of reoccuring stress fracture in his lower back. We went to several differnt professionals over the years and each one had a different prognosis. One said he had a weak core. One said he had tight hamstrings. One said his pelvis was shifted out of place. One said his lowest lumbar was out of place. All we know is that it happens suddenly and then over the course of a couple weeks it mysteriously dissapears and son is 100% again. What we do realize is that when this does occur at it's freaky times that son knows to shut everything down until he feels better.
quote:
There is no argument that no one should pitch in pain or discomfort. My contention is that biologically some kids may not be ready.
I will agree with that. I coached a kid a few years back that was just not biologically able to go more than 2 innings/ 30 pitches without tiring.
GBM,
That is very typical of spondylolysis that heals with a non-bony union. It wouldn't show up on a bone scan or MRI necessarily if it was old enough, but would show up on a CT scan.
That is very typical of spondylolysis that heals with a non-bony union. It wouldn't show up on a bone scan or MRI necessarily if it was old enough, but would show up on a CT scan.
quote:Originally posted by CADad:
GBM,
That is very typical of spondylolysis that heals with a non-bony union. It wouldn't show up on a bone scan or MRI necessarily if it was old enough, but would show up on a CT scan.
Hum...Interesting. Will have to look into it. Thanks.
Perhaps, without realizing it, we just let our kids do too much by allowing them to use the same repetitive motions.
GBM, I'l look into that, it's not normal for a pre teen to have back pain. Just saying, things happen even when we think their arms are conditioned, the rest of the body may not. Hope that info from CADad helped.
GBM, I'l look into that, it's not normal for a pre teen to have back pain. Just saying, things happen even when we think their arms are conditioned, the rest of the body may not. Hope that info from CADad helped.
I did some searching around and it appears that the pain from spondylolysis is more centered in the center. Son's pain is off to the sides. I am wondering if it not just a pulled muscle? He said it wasn't bothering him enough to not play the game today and I watched him closely and couldn't tell it was bothering him. He played well today and didn't show any signs of pain. I asked after the game and he said it was still bothering him. We have been battling this for 3 years now.
It kind of makes sense that this might be a case for the tight hamstrings pulling unduly on his pelvis causing it to tilt out of place and thus placing strain on the lumbars. Over the past three years he has been doing extra stretching and core strengthening but it doesn't seem to really help. He does have tight hamstrings- always has had tighter than usual hamstrings. Last year he went all baseball season without any problems and then his first week in basketball practice he was running sideways and stopped and got the pain. For a year nothing happened and then he came home one day last week from practice and said the pain was back. I asked how he thought it happened and he said maybe it was when he dived for a ball at second. I am concerned to some degree on the one hand and yet on the other he has been through this several times before. We are probably going to take him to a sports medical specialist next and get their opinion later this week.
It kind of makes sense that this might be a case for the tight hamstrings pulling unduly on his pelvis causing it to tilt out of place and thus placing strain on the lumbars. Over the past three years he has been doing extra stretching and core strengthening but it doesn't seem to really help. He does have tight hamstrings- always has had tighter than usual hamstrings. Last year he went all baseball season without any problems and then his first week in basketball practice he was running sideways and stopped and got the pain. For a year nothing happened and then he came home one day last week from practice and said the pain was back. I asked how he thought it happened and he said maybe it was when he dived for a ball at second. I am concerned to some degree on the one hand and yet on the other he has been through this several times before. We are probably going to take him to a sports medical specialist next and get their opinion later this week.
The tenderness to touch, if there is any, will usually be in the center or just off to the side of the spine, but the pain due to bending can radiate across the whole lower back.