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Well son finally had his Tommy John surgery on Thursday (12/23), He called it his early Christmas present..lol.

Doctor said it was pretty badly torn one of the worst he had seen as it was actually "torn in two places". When he screws something up he screws it up good! They took a tendon from his wrist and the surgery went great. He had a tough day on the 24th pain wise but did much better on Christmas day and yesterday. Just Advil for the pain.

His arm is wrapped heavily in a plaster splint immobilizing his elbow. He goes back to see the surgeon on Thursday. Not sure if he gets the brace then or not. we shall see.

Now he can finally start the long road back from TJ surgery.
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What a Christmas present. Best wishes for a speedy and successful recovery!!

How old is your son and at what level? I'm curious if he feels there may be a particular cause and if so, will he make any changes mechanically or in his conditioning as he returns? Also curious about what you think about the injury and recovery?

Again, all the best in the New Year!

P.S. Looking for big things from your Sox's this year!
Last edited by Prime9
Prime9,

He is 15 and is a sophomore in high school. It would appear that there were a couple of things that lead to the breakdown of the UCL. Testing of his left shoulder (he is a LHP) revealed that it was extremely weak. This likely lead to his arm tiring quickly and a breakdown in his mechanics (dropping his elbow). The second contributing factor was that he had a 7mph jump in his velocity of the prior year. He worked with a pitching coach over the winter which greatly improved his mechanics along with a 2-3" growth spurt. (went from throwing mid 70's (75 - 76) to low to mid 80's (82 -83)) He also threw max velocity often trying to impress the coaches etc... One thing it likely wasn't was overuse. His innings were monitored and rarely threw 7 innings or more in a week. Pitch counts were below 100 as well, usually well below. So basically it was a very weak shoulder and big growth spurt that lead to the carnage..lol.

We will likely work with a pitching coach when he gets to that point to confirm that his mechanics are sound. He will definitely be doing exercises like the throwers 10 for the rest of his pitching days. He took his physical gifts for granted and didn't put in the extra work needed as a pitcher, figuring that having come out of basketball season and working with the pitching coach was enough. He didn't put in the effort with warming up properly either so we will create a routine with the physical therapist for the future.

My only thoughts are first and foremost that it sucks that it happened in the first place but if it had to happen occurring in the summer of his freshman year was probably the best timing for a high school pitcher. He established himself in the coaches eyes as a freshman, will miss his sophomore year but should be good to go for his junior and senior years. He will also be able to participate in the summer of his junior year for travel teams and hopefully get on the recruitment trail. Will be a long 15 months till he pitches to a batter competitively again though!!
Glad to hear the surgery is over and successful. He should get the splint off and the stitches out on his next visit and go into the mechanical brace. My son was surprised that he started out at 120 degrees flexion and 30 extention...much more open then he expected it to be...he thought he would start out at 90 degrees..so he was alittle nervous when the dr set it and said your good to go and walked out. He made me get the dr to come back in and check it because he thought he made a mistake lol. He got used to it pretty quickly and becuase he started college about 4 weeks after surgery the doctor had him wear it all the time for 3 months and then had him wear it whenever he went out to class or practice just as a reminder that he still had limitations. He is now 3 weeks into his throwing program and throwing at 60ft. So far so good. No pain just a little soreness but dr says all normal stuff. Next hurdle will be throwing off the mound in late Feb. Good luck to your son with his rehab.
Best of luck to both of your sons for a speedy and successful recovery.

My son (college freshman) was working out on the 22nd. He felt a little soreness in his elbow, but finished his throwing. Thursday morning he woke up and told me he needed to go to the doctor. The pain had gotten worse. We finally got an appointment for today with a sports medicine clinic. The doctor took one look and said "UCL". We have an MRI scheduled for the 4th to confirm. We are all pretty devastated. He has never had any arm or elbow problems in his pitching career.

It is uplifting to hear some good news about this type of injury. Can you tell me how soon after the diagnosis your surgery was performed?
my son went to the 1st doctor on june 11 had an mri on the 15th was diagnosed with a signifcant tear on the 17th first doc suggested 4 to 6 months rest and rehab with 50/50 chance of reinjuring it when pitching resumed. Went for 2nd opinion on july 10th and Dr recommended UCL surgery if son wanted to pitch in college. Had surgery July 26th. Turned out he had a complete tear so surgery was the only way he would have been able to pitch again and is now in 3rd week of throwing program. So to answer your question from 1st appointment to surgery date was about 6 weeks but only 2 weeks between 2nd opinion doctor doing the surgery
Last edited by hisbiggestfan
quote:
He also threw max velocity often trying to impress the coaches etc... One thing it likely wasn't was overuse.


BINGO. UCL injuries are not an overuse injury. Ligament injuries are almost always acute injuries-- one incident causes it. Rotator Cuff injuries are more often chronic injuries-- overuse.

Throwing max velocity so often is a likely cause for injury. Throwing over 85MPH is a risk factor for elbow injuries big-time..
Thank you for the information. It's nice to know this was not an overuse injury, son threw a lot of innings last year. He said he felt a little discomfort around the middle of his workout, specifically while throwing changeup, his other pitches didn't seem to bother it. The worst pain he had wasn't until well after he finished his workout.
OH BBMOM...best of luck with the MRI...maybe it wont be worst case scenerio. Your son is the same age as mine. He is also a freshman in college and will have to red shirt this season and hopefully will be ready this time next year. No summer ball either he will just work with his pitching coach and come back slowly over the fall and winter next year giving him about 18 months before he gets back on the mound in real games. He will start throwing off the mound at 50 percent right around the time his team will leave for their 1st preseason trip. The rehab road back is not easy and a little lonely, but hopefully he will make it all the way back for the next season. Best Wishes to you and your son. Keep us posted.
OH BBmom - Son's injury to surgery time was likely the longest in recorded time...lol. He got to the point where he couldn't pitch anymore due to pain (thought it was tendonitis..silly us!!) back around the 15th of august. Went to the local Ortho Dr that Monday and he did an MRI and discovered the tear. Got a second opinion two days later at MGH and they confirmed the diagnosis. With son only being 15 Dr OH took a very conservative tact. Had son go for an MRI with the dye to get a really good picture of what he was dealing with and put him on a rehab program to strengthen his shoulder before surgery. The MRI showed damage to the cartilage in the elbow so he wanted to correct that first. Had that surgery in October. Had to let that surgery heal and FINALLY had his TJ surgery on December 23rd. So it took 4 months to finally have the surgery.

Being from New England our HS baseball season doesn't start till late March so he will have 15 months of rehab and recovery before he throws his first competitive pitch. Hopefully by then he will be healthy and going strong. Come summer time he will be 18 months out and should be able to participate in summer ball hopefully playing down in GA at the WWBA events.

Good luck to your son!! If it is a torn UCL I bet you'll have your surgery much quicker then my son did, by about 3 months or more! Don't be afraid to seek a 2nd opinion with a good quality surgeon, obviously Dr Andrews would be nice but isn't very practical being in OH. I'm sure the Reds or Indians surgeons are quite qualified. Son had the Orthopedic Dr from the Red Sox perform his surgery. He studied under Andrews and works on studies with him. For this area I don't think I could have got better short of flying to Atlanta to see Andrews himself.

Keep us posted!!
Thank you for all of the pep talks! As you can imagine, our house has not been a very happy place to be these last few days. Before leaving for Christmas, son's coaches had individual meetings with each player to discuss what was expected of them during the coming season. He was told that he was one of 6 or 7 pitchers that would be competing for a spot in the 5 man rotation. He was very excited, and probably wanted to show up in mid-season form. Don't know if this could have caused injury. Guess it really doesn't matter what caused it, at this point.

We are very happy with his doctor. We chose to take him to the sports medicine center at Akron Children's Hospital, about a 40 minute drive from where we live. He had been there a few years ago for a shoulder injury that was healed with therapy and rehab, hasn't had one problem since. Hopefully we will have some good news in a few days.
hisbiggestfan - you were right on with my son's 1st appt with the doctor after the surgery. They removed the splint and took out the stitches. Wounds were healing well and they put steri-strips on them which he is to keep on till they fall off on their own. He now has the brace and it was set at 90 degrees. Pretty much the same as the splint. The good part is it can come off when showering. That was a pain in the butt as it was my son's left arm which at his house was the inside wall of the shower so he couldn't hang it outside the curtain. Had to tape trash bags over it to shower. Now he can shower normally but remembering not to use that arm.

He heads to the Physical Therapist on Monday to start that up. Not sure how much he can do right off but I'm looking forward to taking him later on that week. I'm hoping a Sox player or Bruins player will be coming or leaving as he is the PT for each team..lol. Be a kind of cool benefit to meet a player.

1 Week down and 64 weeks to go till High School baseball starts up in 2012!!!
Last edited by redsox8191
quote:
Originally posted by redsox8191:
hisbiggestfan - you were right on with my son's 1st appt with the doctor after the surgery. They removed the splint and took out the stitches. Wounds were healing well and they put steri-strips on them which he is to keep on till they fall off on their own. He now has the brace and it was set at 90 degrees. Pretty much the same as the splint. The good part is it can come off when showering. That was a pain in the butt as it was my son's left arm which at his house was the inside wall of the shower so he couldn't hang it outside the curtain. Had to tape trash bags over it to shower. Now he can shower normally but remembering not to use that arm.

He heads to the Physical Therapist on Monday to start that up. Not sure how much he can do right off but I'm looking forward to taking him later on that week. I'm hoping a Sox player or Bruins player will be coming or leaving as he is the PT for each team..lol. Be a kind of cool benefit to meet a player.

1 Week down and 64 weeks to go till High School baseball starts up in 2012!!!


Where will he be doing the PT? In the Nashua area?
Catching coach (Coach Weaver I presume Wink)

He is starting down at Mass General with their lead physical therapist Scott Waugh. He will lead and monitor his physical therapy. At first we will go there and then he will assign what needs to be completed and that will be forwarded to the physical therapists here in Nashua. I believe his mom has coordinated it with the same group that supplies the trainer for North (Performance Rehab). In fact I believe that during the school year he will perform some of it with the trainer for North right after school. It is my understanding that we will meet with Scott at MGH probably once a month at least to check progress and to get info for the next stage of rehabilitation.

So basically it will be administered by MGH and a good chunk performed here in Nashua with Performance Rehab.
Last edited by redsox8191
Bulldog

I am sure that they work together at MGH as well as with the Sox..

Here are their official titles off of the Red Sox website:

Head Athletic Trainer/Asst. Dir. of Medical Services - Mike Reinold

Physical Therapist - Scott Waugh

Scott Waugh is also the Clinical Director for the Sports Physical Therapy Service at MGH.

So needless to say I feel like his rehab is in good hands Big Grin .

And yes I did totally screw up the spelling of his name originally (Wahl vs Waugh)!!
Last edited by redsox8191
Should be good to go Wink

Here's part of Mike's bio from his website..

quote:
Michael is currently the Head Athletic Trainer and Assistant Director of Medical Services of the Boston Red Sox Baseball Club. He had previously spent the last 4 years as the Rehabilitation Coordinator and Assistant Athletic Trainer. He is also the Coordinator of Rehabilitation Research and Education of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Sports Medicine Division, of Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Sports Center in Boston, MA. In addition, Michael is Adjunct Faculty at Northeastern University in the Doctorate of Physical Therapy program. Michael was formerly the Facility Director of Champion Sports Medicine and the Coordinator of Rehabilitative Research & Clinical Education at the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham, AL.


He might know a thing or two here and there Wink I'd love to work with him for awhile myself..

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