What are thie signs of Injury over Fatigue?

[real green]

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 arm strength (muscle).

Should a 10yr old never be worked to the point of soreness?

[shake-n-bake]

Intensity of the pain.

Recurrence of pain.

Immediate onset of pain versus delayed onset.

Rule #1 is that if it doesn't feel right - stop!

Rule #2 is that if you think something's not right, seek the advice of a qualified professional. Misdiagnoses can be dangerous. Is it tendinitis? Is it a growth plate? Well there's a big difference. Get the person that gives you the right answer the first time.

[mudvnine]

Should a 10yr old never be worked to the point of soreness?

NO player, regardless of age should ever "be worked to the point of soreness", unless you're planning on having that player sit out for a week or more.

[Chris O'Leary]

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 arm strength (muscle).

Should a 10yr old never be worked to the point of soreness?

A bad thing is something that...

- Doesn't go away with rest.
- Bothers you out of nowhere.
- Wakes you up at night.

10YO's are going to be sore, but you don't want to push them very hard. They will usually tell you, or show you via their body language, when something's up. It's your job to be on the lookout for stuff.

[mudvnine]

Intensity of the pain.Rule #1 is that if it doesn't feel right - stop!

Rule #2 is that if you think something's not right, seek the advice of a qualified professional. Misdiagnoses can be dangerous. Is it tendinitis? Is it a growth plate? Well there's a big difference. Get the person that gives you the right answer the first time.

Two very good rules.

Not too sure about the "intensity" of pain as a diagnostic tool for a parent or coach, as there are many factors involved, where the subjectiveness of it can cause problems quite quickly.

What do you do with "mildly sore"? Let him continue to throw until it becomes "pretty sore"......"extremely sore"?

I've seen "mildly sore" one day, turn into "pretty sore" the next after throwing.....and lose a kid for a week or more as he recovers from the "pretty sore".

Needless to say, I am very cautious (possibly "overly"), when it comes to HS and younger arm complaints.

It has been my experience that when a kid finally says his arm's sore, it's probably been several days or even weeks that it's been going on before they actually say something.

By that time, it's err on the side of caution, versus, "Ay, that's normal, it'll loosen up.....just throw a little easier.....and put ice on it when you get home" which you know 9 times out of 10 they never do anyway.

[Roothog66]

It's also hard to tell with younger kids. My own (now 12u) has always complained of arm pain during/after a bad outing. Later he'll tell me that his arm didn't really hurt - he was just looking for an out to explain his performance. This usually occurs when I tell him he's not going back to the mound for a few days. So, I'm never sure if he was fibbing the first time or just lying to get back in the game. I continually stress to him the importance of being honest about pain, but who knows when I'm just being played by an eleven-year-old? I'm sure this is a problem at all ages, including pros.

[shake-n-bake]

What I mean by intensity of the pain is if your kid says it hurts really bad, then you have to listen to them. I have seen parents try to talk kids out of the fact that they are really hurt.

I remember going to the hospital when my son was there with a broken arm. He's sitting there on the edge of the table and I asked him, "Bud, you sure it's broken?" I'm hoping it's not of course even though I can see in his face that he's a hurtin' unit. For a second it was like I convinced him maybe it wasn't. Then he pulled the sling back a little bit and his arm was the shape of an "S."

Even adults use a 1-10 scale in helping doctors determine the grade of injury for such things as hamstrings. My son's GP injury was originally diagnosed as RC tendinitis. Per doc's recommendation, he rested it, then resumed a light amount of throwing, then full use. Well at that point the pain he said he felt let us know that it wasn't tendinitis recurring. It was severe.

[skipper5]

NO player, regardless of age should ever "be worked to the point of soreness", unless you're planning on having that player sit out for a week or more.

Mud,
In my experience, many--if not most-- infielders on MS and Fr/JV/V teams would admit to arm soreness the first week or two, if you gave them truth serum.
It begins with full-effort throwovers during tryouts, trying to impress. Then, at the first practices, the coach is psyched to finally get rolling after a 9-month layoff and puts his guys through their paces.... as if it's mid-season. Not blaming the coaches. Blaming human nature.
BTW, I'm in your camp. I protect arms.