arm pain

kevin25,

Of course, I am not a doctor, but when the boys are that age, the plates that are between the bone joints are not fully hardend because they are not fully grown.

Throwing a baseball, especially long toss, after a summer of baseball, can stress those plates and cause them to crack, or what is known as a stress fracture.

I didn't listen to my son when he was 13 for a long time. Finally, I took him to the doctor.

As soon as my son described his condition, the sports doctor, said, "He has a stress fracture. Take the rest of the fall off to let it heal"

I described my experience for you because I think the "13" jumped out at me and jogged my memory.

Take him to a sports doctor.

Thanks for the reply. He's got an appointment with sports medicine clinic today. However it seems that some long toss would be Ok. Hasn't done much since the end of Aug. And been working back in slow. Don't you need to throw to increase the arm strength?

Let me correct myself, his season ended end of July. So basically rested arm for two and a half 3 months.

You are really making me flashback. I usually avoid injury type discussions because the correct answer is "I am not a doctor. Go to the doctor".

But, the timing of this is exactly what happened to my son. At 13, the season was probably over in late July with the playoffs, which is when he started complaining. (didn't want to pitch because his arm hurt)

When fall ball started, he started complaining again about "the same pain", so I took him to the doctor.

"Shut it down. It takes a long time for these things to heal. It might not be ready in the spring."

The age, the timing, and long tossing words are the triggers making me respond because of the similarities.

Yes, I agree you need to throw to increase arm strength.

But, you need to make sure he is healthy first.

Some long toss with a stress fracture is not OK.

It will need complete rest to heal if that is the problem.

Now, I will be curious as to what the doctor says, so let me know.

Stress fracture sounds like an awful injury, but is very common with young ballplayerss because of those growth plates and throwing a baseball.

I think they increase about the time the boys really start to grow.

Ended up going to physical therapist today. Slight strain of rotator cuff. no throwing for 4-6 weeks, rotator cuff exercises. No above the shoulder lifting. Should be Ok with some stengthening if muscles tied to rcuff. Said it was good to catch now

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He's got an appointment with sports medicine clinic today.

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Ended up going to physical therapist today.

?

I also question this.

Did you just skip the Sports Ortho and go straight to a PT? If so, I would suggest that was ill advised. Typically a PT doesn't know what/how to treat an injury without the Sports Ortho diagnosing the injury.

If you in fact did go to the Sports Ortho and was able to get a PT appt. on the same day, then I digress.

BTW, you can expect various arm problems now through the age of 18, minimum. Growth plates, tendonitis, scar tissue, etc. The best thing and only thing to do is what Observer recommended - Go to a Doctor!

saw sports physician today for son's shoulder. irritated rotator cuff and slight issue with growth plate. No throwing for another 5 weeks. follow up Jan 12. NO break in Growth plate some cartillage in place of bone. Insight from anyone?

Dr. Former Observer was pretty close with that description with pain, perhaps you should send a pm.

Good lesson for all, when your player has pain, stop everything until you see a doctor.

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Good lesson for all, when your player has pain, stop everything until you see a doctor.

I think the bigger lesson is even one step back....getting your younger player to tell you he's having pain (especially if it isn't so bad it's obvious to the observer). They don't want to miss any time, want to play through it and really don't know the difference between pain and normal soreness. The lesson to me is watch your player's throwing motion and if it changes at all, he compensating for pain he's not telling you about. Watch carefully and critically.

Hi, kevin25. Even though the growth plate isn't cracked or broken, if it is "aggravated" then that can linger for a long time. 2B aggravated his growth plate right before he turned 12, and he had pain and periods of time where he had to shut down the arm on and off for the next two years. It happened enough times, and the pain was specific enough, that the doc and the PT finally said, "you don't need to come back - you know what to do." It was frustrating, but he kept hitting and fielding and kept improving even though he couldn't throw. And the coaches moved him from SS/3B/P to 2B, which helped save his arm during the times where he was healthy. We took care of it and listened to the pain. Now that he's 15, he's 100% and moving back to the left side of the infield and pitching again. The key is to listen to the pain, and believe him if he says it hurts, and understand that the world won't come to an end if he can't throw for a while. Sometimes it felt like it was the end of the world, but what do you know - we're still here.

thanks for the post 2b. He has an appt. with ortho Jan 12. That will be almost 2 months. Has been rehabbing with alot of band work. Hope it does the trick

I've had that feeling. Running may help, or simple rest may be it. If he' working out, then he should stop (but you probably knew that). If he does simple movements with it, he might be able to nurse it back to health.

Kevin, if your son is faithful to the home rehabiliation work with the bands, etc. then he will reap the rewards of a healthy throwing arm.

Been there and done that. Got the free t-shirt!

Good luck!

And like 2bmom said, as hard as it may be for him (and you!) during this time it isn't the end of the world.

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Originally posted by kevin25:
saw sports physician today for son's shoulder. irritated rotator cuff and slight issue with growth plate. No throwing for another 5 weeks. follow up Jan 12. NO break in Growth plate some cartillage in place of bone. Insight from anyone?

This kind of problem is often related to overuse.

Make sure he's not playing too much, for too much of the year, especially at this vulnerable age.

Also, at this age and point in his physical development long toss will make things worse and not better.

It sucks when you think you're doing things the right way and it doesn't work. Last game was July 31. Played about 40 games this season. Shut him down for 2 months. starthed throwing again in Oct. Have always haer long toss was really therapeautic for the arm. Hope he gets right by end of Jan. JV tryouts in mid Feb.

kevin25 - Something I was wondering about in relation to your son's problem. What type of pre-game/practice stretching and warmup routine does your son and his team use? Is he getting enough?

I know it's not any help right now. Rest sounds like the best thing for him to do. I'm just thinking of ways to possibly reduce the chance of future problems. Kid's in your son's age group are growing and getting stronger at an accelerated rate. Add the physics involved with throwing a baseball and it's easy to see that the joints need all the help they can get!

Thoughts anyone???

Hates to stretch. Have to fight him to get him to do it. I shoulda done a better job of that. Kickin myself now. Lesson learned.

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Originally posted by kevin25:
It sucks when you think you're doing things the right way and it doesn't work. Last game was July 31. Played about 40 games this season. Shut him down for 2 months. starthed throwing again in Oct. Have always haer long toss was really therapeautic for the arm. Hope he gets right by end of Jan. JV tryouts in mid Feb.

Unfortunately, it sounds like he's in the middle of a growth spurt and his growth plates have softened up.

There is NOTHING you can do about this other than take it easy and wait it out.

With his growth plates softening up, long toss will make things worse and not better.

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Originally posted by OK2Go:
kevin25 - Something I was wondering about in relation to your son's problem. What type of pre-game/practice stretching and warmup routine does your son and his team use? Is he getting enough?

This isn't going to help.

He's going through a growth spurt and the only answer is rest, not more work.

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Originally posted by kevin25:
Hates to stretch. Have to fight him to get him to do it. I shoulda done a better job of that. Kickin myself now. Lesson learned.

Static stretching has been shown to be a waste of time.

Dynamic stretching and gradual warm-ups are all that are needed.