Tendonitis Shoulder - afraid to tell Coach

Have your son tell the {idiot} coach that the doc said no throwing for a couple of weeks due to tendonitis.. And that obeying the doc's orders will help make sure he is at 100% before the season starts.

Won't do him any good to make varsity if he ends up with a dead arm (& then probably gets dropped back down anyhow).

Or ends up with a real injury requiring surgery.

What position does he play?
coahes need to make sure they have plenty of stuff to do for the guys with "tender arms" ... there is plenty of things a player can show and a coach ought to be able to tell if a guy is varsity level or not by the way he does the other things... (we field a heckuva lot of balls and flip them into a bucket underhand a couple of feet away when we are sore (but i don't have a zillion kids like this guy must if he's willing to mess with your arm at this stage of the season.
One thing i'd recommend is have your son talk to the coach about his history... does it always take him a few weeks to get past this, has he had it before? stress the dr. opinion, make the message come thru he's willing to bust his hump to make this team, he may just have to wait a while on his arm to come around...

Try Creatine!!!! . Be honest with the coach. If he is talented enough I do not think that a sore arm in January will effect the coaches decision whether to play him up or down. Always remember, you only get one arm. I am assuming he is a sophomore and the next 2 years are much more important than a letter jacket.

Creatine's not the answer, rest is. Trojan-skipper said it best- there's a lot that can be done on the field without throwing the baseball and still show the coach his skills. If playing baseball in the future is part of your son's plans (and I assume it is), then you've got to address this issue with the coach.

It was a joke from a previous thread. Hence the

Texas,

Good post.....I couldn't agree with you more.

Be good,
David

Listen to Texan! My sons a pitcher and tendinitis (left untreated) is the last stage before rotator cuff tear. If handled right he'll be stronger than before. These kids are growing and throwing faster than their muscles and tendons can handle and all coaches either have had or will have pitchers on the shelf. It would be very rare for a coach not to welcome a good pitcher back when he's ready. "There's never enough good pitching".

As a coach...tell the coach. Son's varsity debut will just be delayed. If he is good enough when he is healthy, he'll be there.

kellerdad is right, rest, or you will wind up with a serious injury.

In my experience...tendonitis in shoulder = torn rotator cuff.
Tendonitis in the elbow = Tommy John surgery!

Rest, Rest, Rest. Also, get a 2nd and 3rd opinion just to make sure! Have seen tendonitis get misdiagnosed more than a few times.

If he won't rest it. Take 3 or 4 ibeprofen(mispelled I'm sure) 4 times a day as long as he is not allergic to it. Ice after practice. Warm up good and follow through on his throws and use his legs.

Just a little hint here: Anything ending in "itis" means 'inflammed' in medical lingo. Your son's tendon is inflamed. That's not good. You have a doctor and a physical therapist telling him to "stay off it".

Listen to your doctor and physical therapist and forget about ibuprofen, underhand tosses and most of all your son's idiot coach.

a few comments from someone who's been there

sure some soreness can be expected, but soreness & injury are different

the opinion of your PT on that injury means nothing unless the Dr that read the MRI is his pal

you didn't get into much detail about your Dr - - sports ortho specialty or family doctor?
that makes a HUGE difference

throwing thru a minor injury/inflamation DOES NOT always cause more damage - however, changing mechanics to "compensate" for injury/inflamation OFTEN DOES cause more damage


my final thought, tho maybe I should have put it 1rst -

it's impossible to have the same "stuff" on your throws when you have inflamation/injury

I would WANT the coach to know about my condition -
rather than have him assume what he was seeing was my 100%


good luck

.

In my opinion, the previous posts have given sound advice -- 'cept perhaps the Creatine suggestion (hehe)......but I think calling the coach an idiot, etc. is somewhat unfair. Many arms ARE going to be sore after the first few days -- and I don't see where the coach is telling anyone to "throw through" tendinitis. You guys are quick to label HS coaches idiots and all this guy did was suggest that some degree of pain was not uncommon. I've heard some pretty good coaches make similar comments.

Garlandbaseball has received medical advice (to rest) -- it is up to his son to be forthcoming with the coach. Attack the coach AFTER he reacts inappropriately to reported injuries, not because he makes a generic comment that may reflect more on kids' conditioning than anything else. If his reaction is "work through it" then he opens himself to deserved criticism.

My son's doctor taught him to "learn" about his body -- and to make wise choices during the preseason. For instance, not every throw has to be full-speed, all-out....etc.

Bee -- good post.

-PD

I see a lot of good advice here. Just thought I would give my 2 cents worth.

First of all my son strained his rotator cuff in football of his Sophomore year. After healing and phys therapy he was cleared to do anything , except pitch. He made varsity as a sophomore playing 3rd base and outfield. Every now and then would complain about soreness in his shoulder. Went to 4 different doctors ( all specialized in sports medecine, and all said tendonitis. I will go into what they said later.

Son got cleared to pitch for fall but 2nd inning of first game he pitched he strained his elbow. Here we go again. Went through therapy again and then he was cleared again. Still get the same answer about the tendonitis in his shoulder. Stretch real good, Take advil or some other pain/inflammation med, and work through it.

Talking to coach and he decided to work on his throwing motion. He is a Junior and will not be 17 until late June. For infield he has him throwing standard over hand, but pitching he has moved him to throwing sidearm. He can still bring overhand, but coach will not allow until older. Son has some really good stuff and great motion sidearm. What is amazing is no more sore shoulder or elbow.

What I like even more is once he is allowed to go back over the top, he has all the pitches there as well as sidearm. And yes he is still as accurate and we workout over the top as well, but limited.

Tell the coach what is going on. A good coach will work with him. And good luck with your son.

PD, perhaps I was hasty. But IMHO, pain is not normal. Tired arm? Sure. Pain? Not normal, something is wrong.

If a kid told me his arm was tired, fine. A little rest today, it will be good tomorrow. But if a kid told me his arm hurt (e.g., pain, not tired), then that is a different story.

Personally, I would never tell kids you're gonna hurt, get over it. But that's JMHO...

Texan -- I'm not indicting you here -- but have you ever asked a group of kids to describe how their arms feel -- especially in a group setting? I'm sure you have a great handle on your son and how he communicates....but "tired", "sore", etc. don't always mean the same thing to the same kids. We had one kid that described his arm as "spaghetti" --- can't remember if that was good or bad, but it sounds bad to me.

I agree with the stance that no coach should tell a kid to throw through "pain". Discomfort caused by early use may be a little different -- kids usually don't develop tendinitis during the first few days of "normal" throwing (I don't think) -- unless they jump in the bullpen and try to light up the radar gun after not throwing for 2 months. A coach should be specific in determining the types of pain --- elbow, shoulder, front, back, etc. -- then be careful with things. But...if they don't know (kids won't always "confess" to discomfort) then this type of thing can go undetected....especially when a coach is evaluating 45 kids in a short period.

JMO.

I always had a talk with the players at the start of the season. And we talked about the difference in tired & hurting, for exactly the reason you mention. I told them I wanted to hear about pain. I have heard a few strange descriptions over the years as well, more so when working with the younger ages.

And you are right, the players have an obligation to tell the coach. He can't react to things of which he is unaware.

Sorry, I haven't gotten back. I didn't have access to a computer this weekend. He is a sophomore and plays first, third and pitcher. DR and PT are with the Ranger organization (so I think-hope they know what they are talking about). He is taking prescription Aleve and icing his arm.

As a parent, I'm trying not to get involved but letting my son handle it. Plus I'm female and let's face it coaches don't want to hear from a mom. Now, I've talked to my son so much about it and how he really needs to tell the coach that he's saying it doesn't hurt but I don't believe him.

Thanks for all your responses, I think you all have great advice and I'm printing this out to give him to read.