Sore arm

[real green]

Well my son is dealing with a sore arm.

No elbow or shoulder pain, just muscle soreness. We threw for a month leading into the season a few days a week. A very active kid playing many sports. The problem is he plays for 2 teams. His school team and LL. They basically started at the same time. He has been throwing 6 days a week for the last 6 weeks. He plays SS and pitches for his school team. LL he has been playing outfield and will be pitching. LL games have just started so pitching hasn't been an issue.

He has practices or games everyday for the next 3 weeks. I feel it's just preseason soreness that hasn't had a chance to recover. We have been iceing and drinking choc. milk after every outing since it came up 2 weeks ago. It's getting better but he still is throwing with minor discomfort.

Do I need to shut him down? Any ideas on how to get ahead of this? If I shut him down, how many days of no throwing? Will it be better to let him throw at 50% (yeah right)? I am not sure he knows how to take it easy.

Thanks,

[mudvnine]

Well my son is dealing with a sore arm.

No elbow or shoulder pain, just muscle soreness.

Which "muscle(s)" are sore specifically?

We threw for a month leading into the season a few days a week. A very active kid playing many sports. The problem is he plays for 2 teams. His school team and LL. They basically started at the same time. He has been throwing 6 days a week for the last 6 weeks. He plays SS and pitches for his school team. LL he has been playing outfield and will be pitching. LL games have just started so pitching hasn't been an issue.

He has practices or games everyday for the next 3 weeks. I feel it's just preseason soreness that hasn't had a chance to recover. We have been iceing and drinking choc. milk after every outing since it came up 2 weeks ago. It's getting better but he still is throwing with minor discomfort.

That is just WAY too much "competitive" throwing for any child that age, regardless of what you do afterwards......especially if he's experiencing pain or discomfort during that time.

Do I need to shut him down?

Yes.

Any ideas on how to get ahead of this?

Stop throwing.

If I shut him down, how many days of no throwing?

Until he's pain free, and then build him back up slowly. Also make sure that he has no mechanics problems that may be exacerbating the problem.

Will it be better to let him throw at 50% (yeah right)? I am not sure he knows how to take it easy.

Not while he's still having pain. Maybe 50% when he first returns to throwing pain free.

Remember that pain is the body's way of saying that something is wrong or injured, and needs time to repair itself. There are times where "playing through the pain" might be justified in older or professional athletes, but never in children.

They are still growing and long term damage can be caused by not heeding the body's early warning signs.

If the pain does not subside in a week or so, or returns immediately upon starting to throw again, you may want to see a sports specialist.


Best of luck,
mud -

[real green]

Mud,

He complains and points out mainly his bicep, but he always moves the ice to his tricep.

School ball is short and very laid back. It will only be another 3 weeks (8 wks total). Practices are 3 days a week for 45 minutes and games on Friday. He is pumped because he made varsity and is starting SS as a 5th grader. Granted the stud 6th grader is out with a broken foot.

Our LL is very competitive. He made majors as a ten mainly because of his arm. Unfortunately he has been trying to impress his coaches and over throwing trying to keep up with the 12yr olds.

Thanks for your advice. Looks like we get to focus on hitting for the next week.

[Coach C]

A lot of wisdom in Mud's post. I shut my 12u down for 7 days.
ice and ibruphrofen. Has had 3 practices and doing great. Body needs to heal.

[songtitle]

Could be his brachialis - between the bicep and tricep, on the outside of the arm. My son has pain there when he tries to stop the end of his throwing motion, generally during warmup pitches. Watch the follow-through on his warmup pitches.

[pthawaii]

Which "muscle(s)" are sore specifically?


That is just WAY too much "competitive" throwing for any child that age, regardless of what you do afterwards......especially if he's experiencing pain or discomfort during that time.


Yes.


Stop throwing.


Until he's pain free, and then build him back up slowly. Also make sure that he has no mechanics problems that may be exacerbating the problem.


Not while he's still having pain. Maybe 50% when he first returns to throwing pain free.

Remember that pain is the body's way of saying that something is wrong or injured, and needs time to repair itself. There are times where "playing through the pain" might be justified in older or professional athletes, but never in children.

They are still growing and long term damage can be caused by not heeding the body's early warning signs.

If the pain does not subside in a week or so, or returns immediately upon starting to throw again, you may want to see a sports specialist.


Best of luck,
mud -

I agree with Mud. For what it's worth, I'm a licensed Physical Therapist.

[ctheusa]

If you think it may be to much throwing it probably is. A 12 year old arm is very fragile and only you can be the keeper of his arm. With him pitching for two teams it could get out of hand very easy. i know its great watching your son throw the rock but if you want him to have longevity you need to control how often he throws. Alot of coaches will use him up if you let them. With two coaches involved well Im sure you get the picture.

my 2 cents

[marklaker]

A 10/11 year old throwing six days a week and pitching for two teams? You're really tempting fate.

[real green]

Thanks. He will be shut down for a minimum of 5 days and if he still has discomfort it'll be time to see the doc.

Just to be clear, he has only pitched in 2 games. He has been throwing 2 bullpens per week (20 pitches per), with one week zero bullpens after the initial complaints. The season is just getting started. This was not caused by pitching for 2 teams.

I feel the way the two teams practice schedule rolled out is the issue. I agree he needs more down time between. School ball is only one step above sandlot play. Practice consists of warm up (not enough) ins and outs, plus a simulated BP/game. Most kids are very good players and there is a lot of "show boating" and goofing off.

LL practice is 2 hrs of very structured stations and lots of throwing. He is also pulling double time between infield and outfield stations. IE when OF's are pulled in to be mock runners he is rotated in to the infield positions.

With my experience, I recall it being very "normal" to have early season sore arms. How do you seperate out normal soreness that comes with uping the work load on an arm to a "true" injury?

My thinking has always been joint pain is bad, but muscle aches come with the work load and is a sign (with recovery) of building arrm strength (muscle).

[Roothog66]

Arm soreness can run the gammet of nothing to worry about to an extreme injury to muscle that shouldn't be exacerbated. No offense to anyone on this board, but I wouldn't take a lot of medical advise from an internet forum, no matter how good it is.

[songtitle]

No offense to anyone on this board, but I wouldn't take a lot of medical advise from an internet forum, no matter how good it is.

Heh, you could remove the word 'medical' and it works also.

[Roothog66]

Heh, you could remove the word 'medical' and it works also.

I could also learn to spell "advice" correctly, huh?

[shake-n-bake]

I agree with the comment about tempting fate.

Sounds like in addition to putting a band-aid on the problem with some short term rest, you might want to rethink how much wear and tear he puts on that throwing arm.

Soreness can be common, but anything persistent in a kid is something that should raise a red flag asap. Just not worth taking any risk. LL glory in the grand scheme of things is completely unimportant.

He's moving into a time window where the possibility of injuries that you don't want seem to rear their ugly head. My son was a really dominant LL pitcher. Of course I had him projected as a future Cy Young winner, so we did everything but put his arm in a glass case. I mean we really tried very hard to avoid any sort of injury. If he said something felt weird or hurt - all throwing ceased immediately. He still ended up with a shoulder injury. I think that if your kid has a powerful arm as you say, then it's exponentially more imperative that you pay attention to how much and with what intensity he is throwing.

It's no fun for them being sidelined with some sort of injury watching their friends getting to play.

[real green]

It's no fun for them being sidelined with some sort of injury watching their friends getting to play.

Exactly, and that's what I have to do as a dad. He was not a happy camper.

[real green]

I agree with the comment about tempting fate. Sounds like in addition to putting a band-aid on the problem with some short term rest, you might want to rethink how much wear and tear he puts on that throwing arm.

Looking back is always 20/20. We could not have perdicted the practice schedule to roll out the way it did. Again school ball is very laid back and the kids love it! It is also a short season.

Obviously his arm wasn't prepared to roar into the season the way it rolled out. Looking back, we should have talked much more about working up to throwing 110%. As life of a 10r old goes, I am not sure that would have made any difference. The only thing we could have done differently is:

1. Thrown more before the season started, building a better base
2. Keep him off the school ball team
3. Keep him off the LL team

2 or 3 would have been very difficult choices. As a parent I know we have to make the difficult calls, but taking him off school ball would be a big hit for his confidence and the social side of things. LL is also a big part of his life and would be tough to check out.