Youth Catcher Injuries

See a doctor--

Yes a DRs visit is allready planned.

If it was an accident and unavoidable than that's fine.If it's something common with catchers that could be minimized by better mechanics,stretching,strengthening,etc...than I would like to here opnions.

Sugi,

Hip flexibility is very important for catchers. Stretching the legs/knee is great for OSD (remember to stretch hamstrings also for this) but stretching the hip flexors and the hips in general is also important; eventually will become more important as your son gets older. Catchers usually get to practice early compared to other players just make sure they can get everything taken care of. As he gets older and stronger, usually hip strength becomes less of an issue but the stretching never,ever goes away.

TRhit's advice about the doctor is always sound.

In the meantime, try having your son offset his feet slightly with the left foot ahead of the right; about toe to instep. This can take some pressure off his left hip a bit. Ideally the feet should be close to pointing down the baselines but it isn't written in stone either.

Catching bullpens is a real killer on the legs at times if the catcher never stands up to throw back as that gives you a bit of stretch opportunity for the legs.

S. Abrams,

Thanks for the tips.It is rare that we are not the first ones to the field whether it be practice or games.I do have time to do additional stretches with him because of the extra time.I've been looking for a dynamic stretching routine here as well as youtube for a few months now.I haven't really come up with one that I feel is good enough to get the full body stretched as well as the blood flowing.I do have a couple of coaches locally that I can ask for assistance with this and this injury just might get me to finally put something together.---If anyone has suggestions or links to a good dynamic stretching routine,I'm all ears.

As far as bullpens go,I allways tell him to throw back to the pitcher while standing.Besides it being good habit,I think it will help strengthen/condition his legs in the process.

My son had similar pain last summer, but didn't want to see a doctor until after the Elite 32. After that, he said he felt fine until the first day of football. We went to the Dr and he told us it was a hip flexor injury and he needed 6-8 weeks of rest. We went to a sports physical therapist after a week and she checked it out and said his hip socket was slightly out of place. She popped it back in place and worked it out for a few days. My son said he felt better than he had in a couple years and was back playing football in a few days pain free. Who knows what happened, but apparently it had been hurting for a couple years. Catchers!!!

I guess what I'm saying is that the orthopedic had no idea what he was talking about and he had the x-rays. The sports physical therapist was awesome. From now on, I plan on going to her first before seeing the Dr. She'll let us know if she thinks we need to see the Dr or not. Good luck!