Conditioning

I posted earlier this year about my DD having pain in the back of her shoulder in the rhomboid area. This started about age 9. She is 11. The coaches adjusted her game schedule so she pitched less frequently and we didn't practice pitching because we wanted her to rest that area. It seemed like it was a never ending cycle until this fall. A coach suggested practicing more often, every other day, and it seems like the problem has gone away. I figure this was a conditioning issue that was going in a circle. No practice to build endurance and then pitching 10-15 innings a weekend causing overuse pain. More practice and now she's back to throwing hard and she's pain free!

Glad to hear it! I am the father of two pitchers and going forward, I think, the important things are the conditioning aspect and ensuring that your DD is pitching with good mechanics. Also, I fixed a few problems with my DDs thru chiropractic treatment. The stress of pitching was causing them some alignment issues.

Our chiropractor is a godsend.

My dd's only 9 and started having some elbow pain this year. Ortho says no injury but we are taking about a month off all pitching and throwing. We have about another week left. In the meantime we've been working on conditioning a lot. Just general strength building. And when we pick back up I have a plan to address some of the mechanics issues that I think were responsible for the pain to begin with. I actually want her to practice less often. Before we practiced almost every day and I plan to alternate some, so it's closer to every other day and hitting every other day. If we can get her mechanics in line and find the pain does not recur, I may let her practice 5 days a week after awhile. We'll see. Anyway, glad your dd is feeling so much better. It's encouraging!

Conditioning is important, but you need to get someone who is qualified to check her pitching mechanics. It has been my experience that pain while pitching is usually associated with flawed mechanics. Conditioning comes into play when a pitcher's mechanics break down due to fatigue. Core strengthening drills and conditioning are important for a pitcher.

With my DDs I have learned that with good conditioning it is easier to pitch with and maintain good mechanics. It's kind of like a chicken and egg thing.

I don't mean to offend any one and my comment isn't directed to anyone. But I find it very disturbing to hear that 9 year old is experiencing pain to the point of needing chiro care. I wish for good health for all of our dds.

NVfishing said:

I posted earlier this year about my DD having pain in the back of her shoulder in the rhomboid area. This started about age 9. She is 11. The coaches adjusted her game schedule so she pitched less frequently and we didn't practice pitching because we wanted her to rest that area. It seemed like it was a never ending cycle until this fall. A coach suggested practicing more often, every other day, and it seems like the problem has gone away. I figure this was a conditioning issue that was going in a circle. No practice to build endurance and then pitching 10-15 innings a weekend causing overuse pain. More practice and now she's back to throwing hard and she's pain free!

Click to expand...

This is very common in athletes that use their arms a lot like softball, baseball, volleyball, tennis and the likes.

In a nutshell, you need to do much more upper back strengthening work through pulling exercises.

Google or Youtube search the following: wall slides, reverse flies, T W Y I exercises, 1-arm cable row, 1-arm DB row, TRX rows, etc.

They will do wonders for the muscles she need to strengthen as a pitchers. I'd suggest you at least 2 or 3 of these and do 2 x 15 reps (for each side if 1 arm at time) at least 2 times a week!

- Coach Marc

my DD(which pitches 14yr old) and I started a weight workout about 3 weeks ago primarily focusing on her core and her lower half but also including a light bench press, lat pulls, rowing, shoulders, and light tri workouts and we are seeing some definite results in both strength and endurance.