16 year old pitcher -- back injury -- need advice!

Starsnuffer's point cannot be overstated. See a specialist. Not a chiropractor, not a general practice doc, not an ER doc. My DH was "lucky" enough to tear his ACL while in college - he was treated by one of the absolute best surgeons (associated with the University) in the business, followed up with physical therapy at a college known for its sports medicine program - his knee is still holding up to sports of all kinds 20 years later.

halskinner said:

I strongly suspect it is the standing nearly straight up through the motion that is your culprit. It is VERY rough on the lumbar spine. It also appeared her stride foot was coming down at an exaggerated angle that was between 45 and 90 degrees. That gets close to the point that it wll lock out the knee from doing its 'Shock absorber role in the stride, that can be a big contributing factor to lower back injuries.

Also, print out a copy of the 'Steadman - Hawkins Report to coaches' that is on the net. Give that report to thePT and MD for their future reference.

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The Steadman/Hawkins Report to the Coaches: Softball Pitching at the 1996 Olympic Games found that a stride toe pointed around 21 degrees correlated with the fastest pitches. The report did not correlate toe angle with injury (the primary focus of the report was on shoulder/arm injury.) Looking at two contemporarary blazers, they appear to point the stride toe right at the catcher. It would be good to know for sure if pointing does correlate to injury so people would know there could be a trade off to speed.


Yukiko Ueno Pictures - Olympics Day 4 - Softball - Zimbio

KenB said:

The Steadman/Hawkins Report to the Coaches: Softball Pitching at the 1996 Olympic Games found that a stride toe pointed around 21 degrees correlated with the fastest pitches. The report did not correlate toe angle with injury (the primary focus of the report was on shoulder/arm injury.) Looking at two contemporarary blazers, they appear to point the stride toe right at the catcher. It would be good to know for sure if pointing does correlate to injury so people would know there could be a trade off to speed.

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Yukiko Ueno Pictures - Olympics Day 4 - Softball - Zimbio

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KenB, you are right on... that is what I was trying to get discussed in the Lower Body Mechanics thread.

Awesome stuff guys...

I am going to experiment with her on different landing angles and see what she feels and what the results are. Luckily she pulled herself out last weekend before completely tweaking it so she's still ready to experiment.

I've been watching her landing over and over in the skills video and one thing I have a question about is this. The portion of the foot she lands on is ball of the foot forward. This is obviously giving her a good base for resistance but I wonder if this also is contributing to the stress coming back up...

Much like hitting, we don't want the batter to land flat footed so I think she's landing this way to get some resistance but perhaps there's a different way.

Thanks a million, guys -- GREATLY appreciated.

knightsb said:

KenB, you are right on... that is what I was trying to get discussed in the Lower Body Mechanics thread.

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The ball of the foot is good. A Dr.'s evaluation of the injury is better. If I had to guess, she got hurt. Sometimes fluke things happen and we get hurt. I'd start with the doc, then worry about fine tuning the form (Leap, timing and better use of the glove hand in the explosion.)

I thought I would share my experience. My daughter is built much like yours and began having severe pain in her lower back her freshman year. Her mother thought her chiroprator would be better than the Dr and sports medicine clinic. But after a few weeks of being told she was just out of place and needed multiple visits per week from said chriopractor. Indefinately I guess. I finally put my foot down, we went to the spine clinic to get X- rays and a real diagnosis. Her spine was in perfect alignmant and probably always had been. I did find out something interesting though. My DD was one of about 10% of people that have an extra vertabre. Her injury was determined to be overuse, the extra vertabre had nothing to with it but Doc did say it's just one more moving part to get out of wack. We tried rehab and core work and finally even a cortisone shot into her spine. It was the middle of summer and we too felt the pressure to keep playing. Worst thing I ever did! Her back never got better and she missed the opurtunity to try out for a Gold team due to her back pain still preventing her from throwing well. Having missed that oportunity I shut her down completely no throwing no core work nothing! She was freaked not being able to try out for a team and we went into the winter without her being on a club team for the first time since she was 9. But I dont believe she was ever gonna get better from rehab, contrary to what we kept being told. After three months of complete rest I took her to Golds gym and they customised a core work out for her based on her sport. It has been two years now and she has not had lower back problems. (knock on wood). My advice especialy this time of year would be to go get the pictures of her spine, to rule out any actual physical damage then force her to stop and rest at least a couple months I think 3 is kinda a magic number, and I mean complete rest, no riding a bike, arm work, nothing......
Then hit the core, though she looks like she is already slimmer than my DD when she was having problems. DD lost about 15 lbs. and I know that was part of her problem.
Good luck, its scary I know.

The less wear on the body and joints, the better, of course. I hate to see girls dig a trench with the back foot and then, kick that same foot up behind them and stop with all of the weight on one foot. It just doesn't make good mechanical sense to me.

Good luck with your DD. I went through a couple of hunts like yours while mine was in HS.

Do you live in a State where you can go to a PT without a docs prescription? If so have you seen a doctor? While its always true that strengthening your core will help in just about every back situation, if you have persistant pain a doctor should be seen.

Don't worry about camps and college, get your dd into the doc

edit to ad, I see you have gone to a doc. A specialist is the next step, not a chiropractor.

halskinner said:

Just so there is no misunderstandings about the role of PT's and MD's. Most Md's will rely and depend on the PT's finding anbd report for a complete diagnosis and a more defined diagnosis than the MD can do by themselves.

The PT can put a patient through very specific exercises that will isolate muscles and muscle group[s to pinpoint what the injury is exactly.

The PT plays a vital role in diagnosis of sports injuries.

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My wife is a PT and she would lose her license if she told people that she diagnosed patients. She can evaluate a patient within the scope of the diagnosis the doctor comes up with. And to suggest that an MD will rely on a PT to tell them what is wrong with a patient is quite humerous.

chinamigarden said:

My wife is a PT and she would lose her license if she told people that she diagnosed patients. She can evaluate a patient within the scope of the diagnosis the doctor comes up with. And to suggest that an MD will rely on a PT to tell them what is wrong with a patient is quite humerous.

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I find it quite realistic... I became a "practical structural engineer" because of knowing that no matter how long you wait for the load tables and specs for the material list from an architect... the materials will be in stock at the lumber yard....

Really I think you can find out more about a condition by asking a Insurance Actuary. :{))