Interesting research about Tommy John surgery

This is an insult to most of the regular posters around here. Most have forgotten more than the ASMI will ever know.

I tried your link above but I had to go back a few steps to get it to actually work... might try this one: www.littleleague.org/pitchcount/pc/sect3/

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This is an insult to most of the regular posters around here. Most have forgotten more than the ASMI will ever know.

Not sure why you say this. I thought it was a very frank and honest view point from a renowned Doctor. He admits what he dosen't know for fact and I enjoyed hearing his views.

The major point was the number of surgeries performed on teenagers and early 20 yr olds. It used to be only for 35+ yr olds. The other point being that rest is a good thing. Playing in the Fall, Spring, and Summer is not always good.

From my point of view Dr. Andrews was right on. I wish he would address shoulder injuries as well. I believe we can all enjoy our kids journey through baseball but we owe our kids the right to avoid permanent life long injuries because of ignorance.

These suguries have been going on for as long as I can remember on teens. There is a huge increase and there could be several reasons for that.
My son broke almost every gide that he puts forward but he always got 4 days rest between an outting. He would refuse to break that rotation. Even in college he turned down a start because he had pitcher 3 days prior. He montored what he did based on knowlege acguired at an early age from professionals and books. He knew his body and never tried to over throw.
I have several friends who have been operated on by Andrews and all were either college or ML BB players. Most of the injuries I saw at lower levels were to catchers. I often wonder how many do not get operated on and just stop playing.
I talked to an old pro once who told me the crazy things they did when their arms hurt. He was scary and they just didn't know any better.
There will always be risk in throwing a BB and Andrews spells it out very honestly. He admits that CBs are not the culprit in themselves and as I have always maintained. FBs are very dangerous at a young age if you are a very hard thrower. Most of the pitchers I know who threw hard have had recurring problems and no longer pitch.

I am sure, and would bet a lot of money (if I had it), that the main reason for this is due to kids playing a lot more baseball (year-round) than the past and yet you still have ignorant "dads"/coaches telling kids how to "pitch" and when to pitch and how often and they are ruining young arms... the ignorance of adults is what is causing these injuries....

our bodies are made to heal themselves, but not if they are being torn down repeatedly week after week, month after month, year after year...

Way to go dad!

Dr. Andrews, along with Dr. James Conway in Fort Worth, is known as one of the top experts in arm and shoulder health and repair in the country.

I don't think there is any doubt about the correlation between the increase in TJ surgury in young players and the increase in year round baseball playing in this country. There is no baseball SEASON anymore. Parents just do not want to hear that their son needs 2-3 months off every year. They are consumed with the fear that their son will "fall behind" if he misses a fall season or showcases.

Unfortunately parents and adults are the ones who have come up with the idea of year round baseball. There are even T ball select teams now and even T ball "World Series" tournaments now. Did the kids think up this stuff - we parents know the answer to that.

Until the parents change things, TJ surgury will continue to be prevalent among younger and younger kids.