Nagging back pain...??

You haven't offered a lot of info Estone, but that's alright. What you have given is likely critical to the issue. You've isolated the symptoms to a particular activity, and that happens to be a great place to look to correct your player's mechanics. But not until he's symptom free! Follow the advice given by the medical pros, which likely included rest also? Might not be a bad idea to consult his doc on this too to rule out any other possible cause.
Once he's better you can consider any mechanical causes by breaking things down. Video may help or maybe another pair of eyes to try and catch anything that may have been missed.

Hope this helps

Trainers seem to focus on muscles and such, if the pain only comes when the physical activity starts may be something else. If it's muscles, they seem to hurt all the time?

It could be a minor stress fracture in one of the lower vertebra. I believe the only way to see something like that is MRI or bone scan. Cure is about 3 months of no physical activity.

my response from a previous thread:

quote:

NOT a dianosis -

we had an injury during hs diagnosed as "repetitive motion spondylolysis", which was essentially a lower spine stress fracure caused imbalanced muscle development from alot of hitting workouts, during a high growth period. it required rest, phys thereapy & a hard back brace for about 6-8 weeks.

previous topic on back pain

hope that helps

Estone
My son had a similar lower left back pain last year. thought it might be spondylolysis but he only felt it while swinging the bat. Planned to have X-rays and an MRI done but thought we would try the chiropractor first. After the first visit the pain was reduced by about 80%. After three visits the pain was gone for good. No pain since.

The treatment that seemed to do the trick was when he laid face down on some articulating table contraption that broke at the waist. It really stretched the lower back. The doctor did some additional manipulating but I think this was what corrected the problem. Apparently there was some kind of pinched nerve that was released by the stretching.

We were very worried for a while because it was such a painful problem and threatened his baseball season but it all worked out. My suggestion is to continue with the chiropractor but only for a short while. If it doesn't seem to improve very much, get the MRI asap.

Hey, Estone. Sorry to hear that he's still having that pain! I think these guys are right about getting an MRI. If it doesn't give a definitive answer, at least you can rule out some things.

If there is a broken vertebra involved, or more, a chiropractor can do more damage than good

Be careful

My son has had a back problem for the last year, he is a pitcher and is now a freshman in college. He has been talking to the college coach throughout the senior year and the summer but did not mention his back hurting at times. He went to the coach the first day of classes and mentioned that he might not play this fall but wanted to play in the spring, not sure if he told him about his back or not. Could this screw up his chances to play this spring? When do they normally start practicing/selecting their spring teams?

Forget about him screwing up his playing time---if the back is still hurting get it checked out NOW !!!!

He's been checked out, MRI, x-rays, blood tests, orthopedic said it may have something to do with growth plate and it should go away on its own, to continue being active (working out/playing sports). He tried a chiropractor a few days before he left for school and I'm wondering if it is that plus sleeping on a different kind of mattress, that is making it worse.

Hi, dalesgal3. Seems kind of strange that the ortho says it's a growth plate, and to continue with physical activity. Growth plate issues don't usually affect college-age players, and they can be damaged if you keep up the physical activity.

Here is some info on growth plates, FYI. I think you need to get a second opinion.
http://www.niams.nih.gov/hi/topics/growth_plate/ffgrowth.htm

2Bmom,
Thanks for the info. We are in the process of getting a second opinion. I thought it was strange that the doctor says that it is most likely the growth plate, but the chiro says that it could be the muscles. All I know is that he has been dealing with this for over a year, had all these tests, and is still not getting any better, sometimes getting worse. Dr. also has him taking Aleve 2 pills, 3 times a day. That can't be good for the stomach. Thanks again.

dalesgal3

Good luck! I hope he gets better soon.

quote:

by dalesgal: He went to the coach the first day of classes and mentioned that he might not play this fall but wanted to play in the spring, not sure if he told him about his back or not. Could this screw up his chances to play this spring? When do they normally start practicing/selecting their

you don't say what level/Div, but YES it would be verry rare to see someone on Team in spring who did not practice in fall - unless injury prevented fall practice

making coach aware of injury might be kinda important

Hi Bee,

He is Div III. He told me that he let the coach know that his back was hurting and the coach said it was okay if he doesn't play now, he needs him able in the Spring. He is just looking at the players to see what he has to work with in the Spring. I want him to be well, but he didn't get into this school totally on his SAT scores and his grades (he finally woke up his junior/senior year). I'm afraid he will lose any help he received because of the coach, if he doesn't play.

dalesgal3