conditioning for young baseball player

[baseballdad]

Good evening to all,
I am a dad who has a son that is 11 years old. He plays on a select baseball team and had some arm problems last year. He had what is called "Little League Elbow" and believe it or not...his injury was not because of a ego induced coach and overuse...he just happended to be more susceptible to overuse because of growth plates and tendons not being at the same level of growth rate.
What I'm wondering if there are some exercises that we could be doing in the off season to help promote better flexibility and just try and prevent another injury.
Many Thanks
Jeff

[Will Haskell]

I would recommend a couple of things. The first would be to look at his throwing from a cumulative level and not just looking at how many throws he makes if he pitches. Warmup throws, practices, playing another position and even having a catch out in the backyard will give you a better picture of how much he's actually throwing over a period of time. It is very possible that an overuse syndrome is present but you don't see it because pitch counts or total innings spent playing might be relatively low.

The second thing I would suggest is looking at his throwing mechanics. If he is throwing a 4-seam fastball and the laces are not spinning straight back, chances are he isn't throwing the baseball correctly. Same goes for if his head/eyes aren't level throughout the throwing motion, if one shoulder drops to one side, or if his lead leg isn't positioned directly towards the target causing him to throw across his body. These are just a few examples of mechanical flaws that can put stress on the elbow and by correcting these, we can add velocity and accuracy while decreasing the chance for injury.

The last thing I would recommend would be to get him involved in other sports away from baseball in the off-season or to get him a qualified Youth Conditioning Specialist. Decreasing his chance for an injury won't simply be fixed improving his flexibility. Improving systemic strength, coordination, balance and range of motion thoughout all areas are just a few that will serve to decrease his likelihood for injury.

I realize I haven't quite answered your question but there is no set prescription to prevent him from injuring his elbow because the cause of his elbow pain could also be a result of some form of structural problem that corrective exercise could fix. It could also be as simple as adjusting the way he throws the baseball.

I hope this information has been of some help or insight that will lead to correcting the problem. Keep us posted on his progress as I'm sure others here can also provide some valuable information to aid in his development.

Will Haskell
Athletic Development Specialist
will@tsanorthwest.com

[Kevin T.]

Baseball dad:

As a 15 year old high school sophomore, i can relate to your son a bit. However, Will is the expert, so if theirs any contradictions, i'd listen to him.

Anyway, i've noticed a few things as i've advanced in baseball. First, was the difference between Little League and select baseball teams. I'm not saying that by joining a select baseball team, you're going to be more injury prone or that if you play only little league, you wont have any injuries. But, in my experience, i've never experienced any specific arm problems-just the normal soreness after throwing and pitching. I did, however, notice that those kids who played year round or close to it at that age, have developed arm problems at this age.

Like Will said, you can't just look at how many games played or innings pitched. You also have to take into account warming up, practicing, throwing with friends, etc. Also take into account where he plays. As an outfielder, and i dont know if he's up to the big fields yet, thats a long and powerful throw, different from a throw an infielder would make. An infield throw is a short sling kind of throw. A throw from the outfield more often involves the whole body more than some infield throws.

Attesting to playing more sports, i always grew up playing soccer in the fall, skiing and basketball in the winter, playing baseball in the spring, and playing games in the street during the summer. I played year round, but i wasn't throwing all the time. Baseball started for me April 1st and ended sometime in July, whenever we bowed out of the district tournament. I've never had a serious injury stemming from sports-just a few sprained knees (skiing), a sprained ankle (cops and robbers), sprain foot (jumping out of trees), and stretches and pulls. I've found that mixing up what sports i played really helped me as each sport somewhat transferred into the other. The change of direction in soccer helped playing first base cutting to balls, stoping and pivoting, etc. Basketball helped my vertical jump and snagging wayward throws and line drives. Baseball transferred into soccer and basketball as well.

If i had a kid, at that age, i'd limit the months in which he played. I'd say go play in the spring. And if he wasn't doing a fall sport, fall ball is cool. If he was playing another sport, summer ball is cool if he wanted to. This year, upon entering high schoo, i decided to play more often and played from march 1st up until the first weekend for fall ball. Spring was for school and summer was 18 games in about a month and a half, though most were 5 inning games because we were an offensive juggernaught. Fall ball was 18 games overall with the tournament spread out over 3 months. So, in essence, i wasn't throwing every day for 8 months. But until high school, my ideaology is let them diversify in sports and have fun. Then, in high school, start specializing.

I do external rotation exercises for my rotator cuff because with every throw, the shoulder is rotated inward. Those are the only exercises i can suggest.

What i can emphasize though is a thorough dynamic warm-up before each throwing session. I've found that it's helped my overall game. If you have any more questions, i'll be happy to try and relate and answer them if i can [img]smile.gif[/img]