QElbow Pain

I have elbow pain - top side of the bend - which limits the amount of throws I can make, the power behind the throws and the distance. I am an outfielder and have always had a very accurate arm with a lot of power behind the ball but now I really hate to throw because of this.

It sounds like you have, at the least, muscles that are stronger in the middle and weaker at the ends. That just takes throwing exercises for strength. But it could also be a ligament tear or a joint problem. Either way any injury that continues must be checked on by a doctor who can examine you in person.

QElbow Risk

My son is a 14 year old pitcher. In addition to working to strengthen rotator cuffs, legs, and abdomen, what kinds of exercises can be done to strengthen the elbow? Thanks.…

AThe elbow is one of the most susceptible areas in a young pitcher to overuse injury. In other words, the more you focus on the elbow in an attempt to strengthen it, the more at risk it might become - depending on your pitch selection and mechanics. First, stay away from too many curve balls and too many split fingers or fork balls and avoid doorknob sliders. Second be aware that even at 14 the growth plates on the humerous and ulna (arm bones) may not have solidified so overuse can also lead to deformation, bone chips, all kinds of nasty stuff. Also, when working to strength the associated muscles like the biceps, remember the triceps - muscles around joints work best when both parts of a muscle group are equally exercised. Click here for specific arm care exercises. And see also Alan Jaeger's training program.

QField Safety Check

It is my impression that field maintenance plays a very important role in baseball safety. What type of injuries can be the result of poorly maintained fields? Last but not least, is there a checklist of some kind as to what maintenance should be done to youth baseball fields prior to games?

AIt's a great suggestion and WebBall will add a page on that. Meantime, for you...

Biggest areas of concern...

• the distance to the fenceline (whether there's a warning track or not)
  
• any lip between infield grass and dirt (to cause bad hops)
• softness of soil for base sliding
• no exposed edge on homeplate (for bad hops or sliding),
  
• firmness of pitchers mound (to prvent twisted ankles on landing)
• and of course a check for "foreign objects in the grass". (The usual suburban problem is dog souvenirs, but my past teams have also had to sweep an inner city field each time we visited - for needles!)
• Also, use the pre-game infield to give the players a chance to "read the speed" of the grass - so hit some rollers as well as hops.

QForearm pain

I injured my arm as a H.S. Freshman. They said I probably pulled something, but four years later I still have arm troubles and my velocity is way down. The pain is usually in the forearm and elbow. What can I do to strengthen my arm and get it back in shape.

AWe hesitate to give any advice to someone who has an untreated arm injury. You first need to be checked out by a doctor who is a sports medicine specialist and get a soft-tissue xray or MRI to see what the problem is.

Second, exercises won't help if your throwing mechanics and kinetics are wrong. Otherwise you will just keep re-injuring the arm. So you need a top caliber local pitching instructor to help you on a one-to-one basis.

QFractures & Bones Bruises

My 17 year old son fractured his triquetrium last fall. An Ortho specialist said he was prolonging the healing time by using a splint. But later a Sports Medicine specialist put in a cast for 2-1/2 weeks. His fracture is healing, but he has a bone bruise on the thumb-side of his hand. The Dr. has him on a very slow therapy and we're very concerned. He is a junior and we know that this season is very important, if not do-or-die, for him. My husband thinks he should push it and get back into it or risk what is possibly his only chance to go to college. The regimen the Dr. has him on now would take him mid-way through the baseball season. He also said that his summer season is just as important as this junior year of his high school season. Do you agree? and what are your feelings? He has great potential. He has pitched since he was 7.

APlease consider everything I am about to say before deciding what to do.
Being rehab'd well enough to resist the forces applied to the body by athletic activity is a lot different than the healing time required by someone who just needs to be well enough to go about their daily office job or home life.
The junior season is only important if he makes a full recovery. That means not only the fracture, but the bringing back to full conditioning of all the musculature. You rush it, you risk a premature injury to soft tissue or even a re-fracture through accident - and then the career is over for good.
Trust the doctor if he has sports rehab experience (sounds like you finally went to the right place) and get him working with a physiotherapist who understands the forces at work in baseball. Be patient.
I also should tell you that I wouldn't tell everyone he has pitched since 7. First that doesn't mean anything unless he is a great pitcher now and second I am suspect of the long term durability of kids who throw that young - the could have growth plate deformations on the arm that could mean recurring problems.

QGrowth Plates

About a year ago I noticed a pain on the inner part of my elbow. Doctors say I have a rather odd x-ray - an unusual form on my elbow (don't know what it is). I have problems straightening my elbow. After I pitch my elbow can only get to about a 120 degree angle. I have rested my arm for about 3 months and the pain has decreased and my elbow becomes more straighter. But the doctors have not yet told me what is wrong. I am 16 now, started pitching age 10. I do throw hard almost in the 90's. Do you think that might be related with my injury.

We turned this over to a Dr. Mike Marshall, who answered...
At sixteen years old, the growth plates in your elbow should be
completely closed. Therefore, I do not suspect growth plate difficulties.
Discomfort on the inside of the elbow indicates the medial epicondyle.
However, the inability to fully straighten the elbow indicates the olecranon
process and its fossa. That you cannot straighten your elbow the day after
you pitch, but it gradually goes away indicates that you irritate the
hyaline cartilage in the olecranon fossa and it swells. Therefore, you must
immediately stop slamming the olecranon process of your pitching forearm
(ulna bone) into the olecranon fossa of your pitching upper arm (humerus).
To learn how to stop slamming your olecranon process into its fossa, I
recommend that you practice my pick-off position leverage throws. You must
never, ever fully extend your elbow and your must pronate your forearm.


(There's a reason we included such a technical answer - to prove the point we keep making - if you have an injury, don't trust your coach or parents or even a family doctor to know what to do - see an expert!)

QIgnoring Pain

I am 16 y.o. centerfield (left-hand). I recently got into a habit of throwing the ball like a curve, not completely over the top. I feel major pain, and so I use Absorbine Jr. and it doesn't seem to help. I have tried icing it, taking Advil, and stretching but none seem to work. Is there any stretches or anything else I can do, and NOT quit playing baseball? If not, I guess I will play through PAIN!

You're a lefty - lefties naturally seem to throw with a curve - not sure why, they just do. It's not about over the top, in fact a curveball itself has to be thrown more over the top. It's better if you are at 3/4 arm angle, but on a good line to target and - most important of all - that you get a good 4-seam grip on the ball out of the glove. When you don't check the grip you could end up with a 3-seam or no-seam grip and that natural bend takes over. The pain you feel is probably from pinching the rotator cuff in your shoulder from trying to throw over the top. Possibly. But if easing the arm angle down does not cause an end to the pain, please go see a doctor - don't mask pain - take care of it!

QRotator Cuff Pain

I am 16 and have battled a shoulder problem since late Little League - chronic pain in my rotator cuff. An MRI came back negative. I was assigned exercises which I so but still have the pain - not constant, only when I move my arm certain ways and throw.

Not sure what I can tell you. It could be an imbalance in the chest and back muscles. It could be that you are just not built as a pitcher. It might be something in your pitching motion that a static MRI would not spot.
How are you when throwing from a fielding position - same pain? Have you considered becoming a sidearm pitcher - dropping the arm angle down to take pressure off the shoulder.

QTendonitis

I have had tendonitis since grade 11th (now a college pitcher) and every time I pitch afterwards I can't move my arm without it hurting for more than a week. The pain is on the inside of my elbow down through my forearm. I throw a lot of curveballs, but it doesn't matter how many pitches I throw it still hurts - one inning feels like 7. Am I going to have to have surgery?

AIt sounds first of all that you have to stop throwing curveballs completely - work only on fastballs and change-ups. Still, you may need to stop pitching, period, and yes you may need surgery. But I'm not the one to tell you that - go see a doctor.