Back Pain

Seeing the med professional is the right direction. Also you might want to consider a therapist who can give him core excercises and stretches for him abdomen and lower back. Welcome aboard.

The MRI will tell the whole story. Follow the doctors recommendations.
I am surprised the doctor did not order rest, or therapy,even if muscular, the body needs to heal.

I had the exact same problem and suffered with back pain for close to 3 years. If I wasnt on the field I was lying down with ice.

After much trial and error I finally figured it out. Let me know how the MRI goes and if it is negative let me know.

The last two teens I knew of with similar complaints had very small fractures in the lower back. I'm not sure if either was picked up on initial xrays.

Could be (like Texan said) a pars stress fracture ... painful, but not serious.

After the calcification sets in, that area of bone is generally stronger than before. This is common in pitchers, tennis players and football linemen. Do a google on it and get some background.

The bad thing is that a pars stress fracture may not show on the MRI either and only shows on a bone scan. No way an insurance company will pay for a bone scan until you have gone thru a full round of PT.

Treatment is generally (as suggested) strengthening the core muscles, working on the abs, primarily in order to provide more support for the back. The other option is rest. The cause is generally the asymetrical torquing action that you find in a swing, pitch, etc ...

Probably 25% of adult males have some form of healed/calcification in this area. It generally hits teens. It's IMPORTANT to get it diagnosed so you are using the correct form of therapy.

Texan thanks for the reply. Family doctor did nothing but went to a orthopedic surgeon who took x-rays and requested mri. He stated the same thing, that there was a posibility of a small fracture in the lower spine. Do you know want kind of treatment the two teens had.

One wore a "corset" for several months & had to lay off athletics for that time. After about four months, I think he slowly worked back into athletic activities over a few months.

The other also had to lay off athletics for four or five months.

To my knowledge, both recovered fully.

Son suffered from same type of pains and nothing showed up on the xrays, but a CT Scan showed a fractured pedical. Depending on the outcome of the tests, just follow the doctors orders especially concerning rest. Do all the excercises religously. My son had to build up his front side to support his back to avoid further injury. He worked very hard and was back pitching in 6 weeks. Best of luck to you. Sometimes it's hard to distinguish a childs "aches and pains" from a severe injury. My biggest snag was getting him to the "right" doctor.

You said lower back I believe. I am sure the mri will tell you something, or nothing. My son spent one fall lifting and drinking protein shakes. He began to have back pain at the start of the season. The doctor finally pinpointed it as calcium buildup in his kidney. Some people can handle more protein than others apparently. Thats just another thing to look into. Doc took him off the protein and he was back to normal in about a week.

Bandit,

My oldest son had the same problem his freshman year. We went to the Dr. and he said the same things. We got the x-rays and MRI and nothing showed up. We were refered to a specialist and a therapist and he went through several months of therapy. Nothing relieved the pain. We finally were refered to a sports medicine clinic that specialized in such problems. We met with an older Dr. who had a son who had the exact same problem years earlier playing baseball. He did what he called a standing x-ray study which showed that my son had one leg longer than the other by 2 millimeters! He perscribed a $2.95 plastic wedge to put in the heel of his shoes and in less than a week the pain was gone! We spent alot of money, time and energy on what turned out to be a pretty common problem with kids this age. Uneven growth in the legs is pretty common and can cause severe pain in the lower back. Rather than spend more effort I suggest you have a standing x-ray study done to measure the length of your son's legs. Apparently baseball and base running really exacerbates this condition. My son grew out of this in two years.

Good luck and let me know if this turns out to be the problem.

This may or may not help. My son experienced the same problem last fall while batting during a game, I saw it happen and could see the pain in his face. After a couple of weeks of pain we went to a national sports medicine hospital close to us for evaluation, xrays were taken along with a exam. Final results were muscular problems. He was given a core of exercies to do and return to playing ball when he felt comfortable, problem was he didn't get better and did not return to fall ball. In december I took him to a sports therapy clinic two times a week for 6 weeks. 1 day was strecthing then 2 days later was a deep tissue massage which would almost bring tears to his eyes but I honestly believe this did the trick. The therapist knew his stuff and my son is 100% and ready for the High School season. Keep us posted on his recovery.

when i was 14 i had alot of lower left side back pain. i just heat padded it and iced it and stretched it and finally it went away. but then last fall my shoulder started hurting. i went to a chiropractor that specializes in atheletes. i found out that i had pulled my left hip out of place which made my back hurt which made me overuse my throwing shoulder. i got everything realigned and im back at full strength. so what i guess im saying is this..make sure whatever is wrong is completely healed. dont just brush it off like i did.

Here is you a big word that you may have to become familiar with, SPONDYLOSIS. we just went through it in December. Same scenario as a lot of the above posts. Broken/cracked/fractured/ vertebrae in the lower back. not a lot of science here except it occurs in stress related sports/activities. The X-rays probably will not show but the MRI will. We took it easy for a while and slowly eased back into it. We saw 4 doctors before we were finished and the summary is, learn to manage the pain and don't do anything that hurts. How about that!! they say it(the break) can "slip" and require attention but otherwise, no remedy other than core strengthening therapy. Good Luck

Here is a great link to what the doctors are probably suspecting:
http://www.spineuniversity.com/public/spinesub.asp?id=39

Quite common in adolescents.

Son started rehab yesterday. Mri and ct-scan showed a stress fracture involving the left pedicle of the L-5 disk. The doctors will re-examine him after 6 weeks of rehab. The doc. explained that some of the muscle's that are used to decelerate the arm or body were to weak. This put undo stress on his spine. I have learned just how important the lower core of the body is. My son who plays s****r, basketball,and runs track is in really good shape.Very strong legs and mid-section( so we thought). He has worked very hard on building arm strength never knowing how weak certain other muscles are. I was amazed how his lower abs and certain back muscles were so much weaker than the muscles that are used in the throwing motion. Doc said with a stronger core he will not only throw harder but more importantly take stress off his arm and spine. So right now he gets to rehab and watch his friends try-out for the high school team. They say he should be ready for summer ball. I told him this gives him almost three months to get his body stronger. He's only a freshman so he has three more years. Thanks for all the post and info. Also it took x-rays, MRI, and a CT-scan before they found the problem. This after family doc told us it was just sore muscles. Never take a chance with pain. Thanks again.

Banditsbb,

Good luck to your son. He will be fine. I went through a very similar situation, except a few years later so just assure him things will turn out ok.

I think it is important to note that this is NOT an uncommon injury. There are many, many injuries that are caused by imbalances within the body due to a variety of reasons, but repetitive motion (throwing, swinging, etc) is a major one.

Simply put: If an individual is old enough to throw a baseball or swing a bat in a repetitive manner, then he should be doing pre-hab exercises.

This is becoming a major problem because sadly, our youth no longer do very much of anything outside organized events. In the past playing on the playground was sufficient enough to stop these imbalances. If you kid has always been active God bless you, they are certainly in the minority.

It used to be broken bones, now it is Tommy John surgery in HS.

These injuries can easily be avoided with simple, easy drills and stretches.

Sorry for the rant. This is a major problem that has continued to gain momentum without any sign of stopping.

I once made these mistakes and am trying to help as many young ballplayers avoid them.