By Jim Fanara, CSCS
If you are a parent of a baseball player or even just a baseball fan, it’s hard to miss the number of shoulder and elbow injuries that shut down pitchers. While championships are won and lost based on pitchers’ availability, parents have more personal concerns.
Youth pitching injuries have been on the rise for two decades. Dr. James Andrews, the renowned orthopedic surgeon, has seen surgeries to high school age pitchers rise from almost none in the early 1990’s to 18% of the surgeries he performed by 1999. By 2003, the number rose to 26% and remained between 20% and 30% thru the decade.
We know youth injuries have risen and MLB statistics also indicate a rising trend in professional pitching injuries. So is there a connection between youth and MLB pitching injuries? Dr. Andrew’s experience indicates that there may be a link.
The experience of Dr. Andrew’s indicates that a major contributor to Tommy John surgeries for pitchers in their 20’s is previous injury. He has found that it is common to see areas of calcification on the elbow ligaments of older pitchers undergoing elbow surgery. This calcification points to damage caused by previous trauma at young ages. As pitchers get bigger and stronger, the compromised tissue eventually ruptures.
Unfortunately, pitching is not good for you and studies indicate that pitching volume is a primary cause of shoulder and elbow injuries. The younger you start pitching and the longer you last in the game it seems the more chance you have of ending up hurt.
However, there are ways to reduce injury risk. Monitoring and limiting pitching volume of youth pitchers is a good place to start.
Pitching Injury Series Part Three: Pitching Volume Causes Injury