Bad Weekend for Son-Suggestions?

I know it is difficult dealing with time off from baseball due to injury, at any age (10, 15, 20, etc) .... I know you are looking for information related to the injury but what first came to mind after reading your post was that this is a great opportunity to take some time off and enjoy non-baseball activities, as your son progresses with baseball you will find that it gets harder and harder to find time in the summer for family vacations. Take this time off as a chance to do other things that your family enjoys. When I look back on my sons years of youth and high school baseball I realize we were never able to take the big family trips that I had planned to take due to the baseball schedule. In hindsight, I wish we had made more time for family travel, baseball is always there when you get back.

Good luck to your son, my son dealt with a fracture in his growth plate in his shoulder at 14 and he was just fine after giving it the appropriate time to heal.

I feel for ya cocdawg...he will only come back stronger, my son had this exact same injury and it was an overuse injury, nothing short. Where do we draw the line? We want the time on the mound and the exposure, and this happens now and again. My son is now getting a full ride to a D-1 school...I hope we did the right thing. Good luck bro

quote:

Originally posted by cocdawg:
Although, the accident didn't occur while throwing he does pitch some and plays 3rd the majority of the time. I can't be certain but I would imagine this attributed to the injury.

Could you elaborate a bit more as to what did occur, only so that we can learn what to avoid. You can pm me if you do not want to discuss it on the board.
I am so sorry that this has happened, one of the reasons why I am so adament and carry on about certain things that young pitchers should and shouldn't do. This is why I have stated that if to do over, son would not actually pitch in a game until he was 14. Things happen though, some stuff is unavoidable.

cocdawg,
I am really sorry to hear this happened with your son's elbow.
As was discussed in your prior thread, this type of injury is common during the time boys are growing, their joints are open, and they are playing a lot of baseball.
I think cheapseats is giving you the right ideas going forward.
Forget about baseball for awhile and what you feel might have been. This is a time to find other options while that elbow heals.
Certainly, there is reason for optimism.
Keep in mind, though, that a cast of the type you describe is more of the norm when/if the fracture has displaced. Those situations can be more complicated both in terms of treatment and length and type or recovery.
Only a very good sports orthopedist can provide accurate information for you and your son, for sure.
There isn't anything you or your son can do to make his elbow "stronger." The elbow only gets "stronger" by allowing the fracture to heal, hopefully without complications or displacement, so the plate fuses properly and future growth isn't impacted.
In terms of his treatment, there is nothing to do beyond getting the best medical advice, making sure he is immobilized and rests as medically recommended, allowing the fracture to properly heal, then following the PT process and recommendations precisely and carefully.
Lastly, be aware that these can recur.
My guidance would be to consider this a chance to take the focus off baseball and all that work you say he put in since February.
There are some doctors who might say don't throw a baseball for one year.
As I posted in your earlier thread, learn everything you can about growth plate injuries and fractures. When I did, I realized failing to allow that fracture to heal and the plate to properly fuse could impact our son's ability to play at all.
In my view, you have a very important parent choices to make and the path to follow.
Good luck to your son. Hopefully, next Summer, as an 11 year old, he can be playing and playing well.

Anything we could say would be pure conjecture. I think he'll just have to wait for the ortho.

In the meantime, best of luck with the recovery and while it is going to be tough on him it is most likely better now than later in terms of his ability to recover physically and in terms of playing time lost.

Here's wishing the best for your son at this time and a speedy recovery.

Maybe you can use Pujols recent injury and being shut down 4-6 weeks as an example that injuries happen at all levels and when they do, you deal with them appropriately and learn from it.

Teaching moments.

TPM-He slid into third "feet first" although everybody in town is saying let this be a learning lesson why not to slide into a base head first. Don't you love small towns. Anyway, he tried to pop up and take home but lost his balance and fell backwards. He braced hisself with his left arm but somehow the right arm got involved. He said he felt discomfort at that time but nothing major. A few pitches later he came home to score, bent over and picked up the bat and said he heard/felt a pop in his elbow. He never cries but for about 2 minutes he cried. He insisted on going back out but we shut him down. A paramedic took a look and said he thought he had torn his bicep tendon but couldn't be sure without some test. So we spent the rest of the afternoon at the hospital.

Thanks for all the well wishes! We are definetly gonna shut him down and follow doctor's orders. He insisted on going to practice tonight and hang out with the guys. I told him I would let him hang out at the ballfields the next couple of weeks b/c of tourneys. It is killing him but that's where he wants to be. I think after that we'll spend some time on the lake fishing and do some things we haven't done in a while. We're going to the beach the second week of July so that should help as well.

I know it's not the end of the world. I know he's not the first child to go through this. I know it's not some big league/college or even high school pitcher that's missing time on the diamond but to him it's a big deal. I really appreciate the feed back. We'll just pray come Wednesday that the news is good.

www.asmi.org Go to the "Online Sports Medicine Forum". Some of the folks on here have experience with the type of injury you describe. Good luck.

I think I left out the biggest road block this far. He feels as if he has let his team down. However, being around the guys again last night and seeing how supportive they were toward him helped....I hope. Again, thanks everyone and Texas1836 I will check that site out shortly.

cocdawg

sorry to hear about your sons injury. My son had a similar injury. He dislocated elbow/fractured the growth plate in his throwing arm. He did it during the fall playing football when he was ten years old. By the next spring he was released to throw. I was his LL manager and I think he pitched 2 innings during the last game of the year. He hounded me all year to put him on the mound but could not justify it.

Make sure you get a good physical therapist. My boy was on a 1st name basis with the whole staff after numerous injuries before he was 12. He still doesn't have full extension of his right elbow, never will. He just turned 17 will be a Sr. next year. Hit 87 at his last showcase so let the kid heal, rehab him right and don't worry to much about it.

Enjoy the summer I hope they put a cast on that can get wet!