Thread: Tricep/Arm Injury

Hello All,
I am a new member to the group and have a couple of questions. My daughter is 10 and has been pitching a little over a year and has hit 50 mph on the gun. She has been playing on a travel ball team for quite a while and is the number one pitcher which means she gets a great deal of work. She has been known to pitch 3 or 4 games in a weekend without any issues. This passed weekend we had a tourney, she pitched 2 games on Saturday and 2 Sunday. During the second game she said her arm was sore near the tricep around to the bicep NOT THE SHOULDER. She said it was a "dull" pain not a "sharp" pain. She was still able to finish the inning and the game was over. Today we threw lightly and then pitched a few at full speed there was no pain until we stopped. I believe it is a strained muscle but I am hoping to get an opinion from someone who may have experienced this.

Thanks in Advance!

I suspect that she has an overuse injury. It is my opinion that 4 games in a weekend is too much for a 10YO.

How many pitches did she throw?

I would shut her down until you can get her to a sports doctor and I would not be happy with her coach for pitching her that much.

This sounds like an overuse issue. The amount of pitches thrown is more important than the amount of innings/games pitches. Have someone count and or chart her pitches. Altough some peolple may disagree, pitching an 8 or 9 pitch inning is alot better than pitching a 16 pitch 3 strike-out inning. She needs to rest the arm and the coach needs to understand this injury. Also, please look at your daughters pitching delivery and follow through. When pitchers suddenly stop the underhand windmill motion it puts a tremendous strain on the bicepts/tricept connection. Also, does she ice her arm after every game and between games? Another sign of pitching arm fatigue can be found in her swing while batting. Sometimes the right arm (assuming she is rfgthanded and bats right) will have a tendency to drop while swinging or she show signs of being tired when she swings. Good Luck. Please nip this in the bud or the problem will get worse. She sounds like she has potential.

Unless she heard and/or felt a major 'POP' on/in her shoulder, I would suspect some inflammation of a tendon / ligamate.

As it was explained to me by my Ortho DR; the bicep ligamate passes through a hole in one of the bones at the shoulder The diameter of the ligamate and the hole are the virtually the same, a perfect fit, so to speak.

Now, if the ligamate gets inflamed, it swells up some and it rubs as it passes through. It can be an irritation to a big pain, a big DULL pain. If it had torn, separated or gotten stretched badly, it would hurt like a big dog with sharp pain and you would see the bicep muscle slightly twist when you flex it.

Have a doctor or physical therapist check her out. Have her flex the bicep slowly and watch it to see if it twists even slightly at one or both ends.

If it does, do not pitch until she sees a doctor and gets it checked out.

It sounds like inflammation to me but I do not claim to be a doctor. My bicep ligamate was torn in 1984 in a mutiple roll over wreck on the freeway (as well as my ACL and several scrunched discs in my back). Had to have the bicep reattached twice. Got a little experience of my own to refer to.

Hope she just irritated it.

Hal

PS: If that is her pix on the post, get a bend in that elbow before she hurts herself badly.

Thanks for all of the feedback. When I first posted the question, I had already started resting my daughter. I am happy to report that the arm was fine within a few days and she has now resumed pitching. She has no pain and hopefully by our next 12u tournament in mid January we can go full speed. I have also had her modify her "backs swing" due to a suggestion and it seems to agree with her style.