Got a 20 year old that is complaining about lower back pain (left side) only when he pitches/throws. Does not hurt any other time. Physical therapist didn't say much. Just seeing if others out there had issues like this.
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is he a righty or lefty thrower?
Righty
Might he have an imbalance of muscle strength - possible in his hips? Not sure what the technical explanation is, but some larger muscles that have been bulked up (does he do lots of leg workouts?) may not be balanced with some hip muscles (flexors?). My older son had some issues and PT had him start doing some focused hip exercises to help balance out the muscles. Can also be due to a focus on one side (i.e. 99% of his baseball activity is focused on righty pitching) which leaves the other side somewhat weaker.
I'm thinking the same as 2017LD. My son's trainers always say "whatever we do the the left side we need to do to the right side". I'm sure a PT or trainer could help with some basic core exercises that will stabilize the area.
It could also be some nagging strain or something that isn't getting time to heal.
This is more just out of curiosity than anything I can help with, but does he have an excessive amount of tilt to get to a high arm slot? That can put an awful lot of stress on the t-spine and obliques.
@2017 Lefty Dad posted:Might he have an imbalance of muscle strength - possible in his hips? Not sure what the technical explanation is, but some larger muscles that have been bulked up (does he do lots of leg workouts?) may not be balanced with some hip muscles (flexors?). My older son had some issues and PT had him start doing some focused hip exercises to help balance out the muscles. Can also be due to a focus on one side (i.e. 99% of his baseball activity is focused on righty pitching) which leaves the other side somewhat weaker.
Thank you so much for taking the time out to give me some advice. He does lots of leg workouts. He works out all the time. I personally think he's getting too big for a 5'8 pitcher but I guess some boys want to get really big muscles!
@HSDad22 posted:This is more just out of curiosity than anything I can help with, but does he have an excessive amount of tilt to get to a high arm slot? That can put an awful lot of stress on the t-spine and obliques.
@TerribleBPthrower posted:I'm thinking the same as 2017LD. My son's trainers always say "whatever we do the the left side we need to do to the right side". I'm sure a PT or trainer could help with some basic core exercises that will stabilize the area.
It could also be some nagging strain or something that isn't getting time to heal.
Thank you so much!
@HSDad22 posted:This is more just out of curiosity than anything I can help with, but does he have an excessive amount of tilt to get to a high arm slot? That can put an awful lot of stress on the t-spine and obliques.
I don't know what that means but I'm gonna find out! thanks for taking the time to respond.
@lucky4three posted:I don't know what that means but I'm gonna find out! thanks for taking the time to respond.
This is a general description, but some pitchers really lean and pull their head to get their arm up into high slot positions. Some pitchers extremely arch their back and pull their front shoulder and then when they rotate it puts a lot of stress on the lower t-spine and oblique muscles. tilt in itself is not a bad thing, but it can be overdone.
Above right is an example of Contra lateral tilt, (arching of the back), it's pretty typical but issues are usually based on over doing it, how flexible you are or if you remain in it while rotating hard.
Above left shows how shoulder tilt determines arm slot as the arm should remain in the shoulder plane, there is no excessive image shown.
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