Preventing torn UCL/Tommy John suggestions?

Just now read that Mets pitcher Zack Wheeler is the latest victim of possible TJ... This is insane lol.

May be a nugget or two in this Grantland piece from a few days ago:

http://grantland.com/the-trian...-fleisig-yu-darvish/ 

I would talk to Kyle Boddy at Driveline baseball.  He has some great insights into this issue.  My son has been seeing him and has been really impressed with his results so far.  I'm not saying he can prevent TJ but I'd look into his thoughts on the topic.

This line caught my attention: "Even scarier: Twenty-five to 50 percent of them think you could you have surgery sometimes without even having the injury, just to make your elbow stronger."

Could it come to that? Would it shock anyone to see "preventive" TJS? How strong would the elbow be with a healthy UCL plus a tendon grafted over it?

Not all TJ's are a success. It only has like a 75-80% success rate. To be honest, this is not something I would like to deal with at this time. I'm not the type that thinks you'll magically throw harder because of it and this is not something I'd want to do voluntarily if it is not needed. Anyways I'm going to the AZ Baseball Ranch camp next week and I'll be sure to ask them the same questions too. 

Very interesting article. Thanks for sharing!

One thing to do is to look into the workout regimen that is prescribed for those rehabbing from TJ surgery and see if some of those exercises are adaptable to preventative work. There are those who throw harder after TJ surgery, but it's not the surgery that made them throw harder, it was the hard work they put in during rehab. It's my opinion that if those pitchers had worked that hard with that program before injury, they also would have thrown harder.

Dwight,

If you want to avoid possibly having TJS, the only way to prevent it is to stop pitching.

There are risks in playing any sport and there are also rewards. You can do everything to prevent this from happening but it will happen, you can do nothing to prevent it and it may never happen. It's IMO a crap shoot, you can win or you can lose, but you cant worry about it.  Its also a biological issue, as all people are different with different things going on inside their bodies.  

One thing to keep in mind is that many of these pitchers hit high numbers, that could be the deal breaker, in most cases.

FWIW, most ML teams as well as top college programs have exercise programs to strengthen the shoulder, core, etc. To me this is the key, a stronger  shoulder, a stronger core, stronger butt and legs, this prevents the arm from doing the work, and just going along for the ride.

roothog brings up a good point, most come off of TJ surgery in much better condition than before.  You got to wonder if they were really better conditioned could it have been prevented, my guess is probably not.

I think this is a big factor we often overlook. I've often theorized that pitch counts have helped a lot, but the reason we more ucl injuries at the mlb level (if that indeed is true) is that in the old days, those more genetically prone to ucl tears wer weeded out early by the large pitching loads, leaving only those with genetically gifted ability to throw 150 pitches a game relatively injury free available by the time they reached professional age.

FWIW, the doc that Darvish has seen has operated on son, twice.  He actually discovered that son had an issue for years that no one could figure out,  had a coracoid impingement.

Essentially sons coracoid bone was too large, so it needed shaving. the friction was causing his bursa to become inflamed.  A few years later  he had to have his ulnar nerve moved, it was just one of those things that happens sometimes, the nerve slips out of the groove and gets sore. So he transplanted the nerve.  

As doc told him, its just the way it is, you pitch, you can get hurt. Son now has had to take time out due to a bennets lesion.  Again, you pitch, you can get hurt.  Avoiding injury is really impossible.

As chris carpenter told son once (he did rehab with him one off  season), you pitch, you spend a lot of time in the off season fixing up stuff so you can go out and pitch in the spring.

An epidemic?  When a starting pitcher is expected to pitch over 200+ per season, stuff happens. 

Ahhh, we agree on something!

That's why I have been preaching for years to help your pitcher stay as healthy as you can while he is under your control.  The longer an injury is prolonged the farther the pitcher go. No one wants to get injured, but the key to success is remaining healthy.

Trust me, this I know.

It has been announced locally that Stanford's #1 pitcher, Cal Quantrill will be having TJ Surgery.  It is also in the paper that their #2 pitcher will be out for an extended time with an unnamed shoulder problem.  Their top pitching recruit from 3 years ago pitched less than 5 total innings at Stanford before a labrum issue ended his career in the Spring of 2014.

Each of these 3 pitchers throw 92-95mph.On the other hand, their #3 guy this year is an 82-84 lefty with a 68mph change and he also is missing starts due to injury.

I  don't believe we can escape the reality that  played over many years at a very high level, and then  with the increased  intensity of the competition in college and Summer leagues, or Milb to MLB,   baseball can be a  an extraordinary wear and tear activity.

While there can be lots of theories, my guess is most of these guys are extremely well conditioned and follow a state of the art strength and conditioning program.

For every player or pitcher who is injury free, the hope is to stay that way. I am one who does not feel there is a true science yet available which is reliable on the prevention side.

Okay, so obviously this is something that just happens. But is there any prior warning signs that may signal a possibility of something coming? Like general elbow soreness or tendonitis, for example?

There are warning signs.  Strained UCL, your elbow hurts. Torn, you might hear or feel the pop.

I suggest this not be a concern at this time. 

Oh okay. Makes sense. Thanks!