12 YO pitcher with shoulder pain

[tward1993]

My DD pitched 2 games in her first tournament of the season (one Sat, one Sun). Nothing out of the ordinary. I want to say 120ish pitches. She has been pitching about a year and a half. She sees a PC once a week and has good mechanics. She took Monday off to rest and recoup. We went out to pitch Tuesday she said her shoulder hurt approaching the top of the circle and about half way down the backside. After about 4 full pitches with pain we stopped and tried again on Thursday. Same problem. She said it is not bad pain, but more than uncomfortable. From what she describes it seems to be in the shoulder joint (not on the front or back). We haven't talked to her pitching coach yet, but her team coach suggested that perhaps she did not stretch enough and that she HAS to ice after pitching a game. Looking for thoughts. BTW....she played SS for 4 games which is a new position for her and she said it does not hurt to throw overhand, only that portion of the cirlce while throwing a full pitch.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I highly recommend icing. My DD happened to have a very good trainer in HS and he wouldn't let them play, if they wouldn't ice.

That said, I don't think the problem is muscular. I have had shoulder problems, as did my DD. Some people are definitely more prone to them. It could be posture, it could be the book bag or any number of things combined. Hopefully, you can bypass the MD and get right to a sports doc.

Mine was excellent, but he is in Springfield, IL.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I want to add, I don't know if you are familiar with OPs (osteopaths) or not, but mine works miracles when my shoulder hurts. He is quite similar to an MD. He looks at me and says "such and such" is out of balance and he pops it back in.

Good luck. And do let us know what is wrong. I like to learn.

 

[jacketsfan]

Go see a doc. My DD had a similar issue. We went to therapy, thinking it was an impingement problem. MRI showed it was a tear in rotator capsule (different than cuff), made worse by not dealing with it right away. It took surgery to repair, and months to rehab.

Just go to a doc - don't risk it.

 

[dbias]

Ive seen two cases of pitchers with pain in the 10 -2 oclock position in the windmill and both cases came down to them getting their front foot down slightly before the ball cleared the top of the arm circle. When front foot lands and pushes back on body while arm is still going up... usually around 10 -11 oclock... this shock happening at this time can lead pain in the top of arm circle. Reinforce "up together... down together". This is often seen with throwing a lot of dropballs and the requirement to "shorten the stride alittle in order to get on top of the ball.
Just something ive seen in the past.. may not be the case here at all..

 

[tward1993]

Thanks for the input. She said it is feeling better today. We are going to rest through the weekend and contact a doctor Monday if it is not 100%.

 

[tward1993]

She was still hurting today so I took her to an Ortho/Sports Med doc. He said everything looked good and determined it to be muscular. He said to take it easy for a week and she should be good to go.

 

[stv]

Thats good news. Did you ask him about the ice thing?