Arm injury questions

[dc73nova]

So here we are. DD started complaining to my wife a few weeks ago that her shoulder was sore the day after throwing overhand in practice. We have preached to her to let us know if she ever has any discomfort in her arm since she started pitching a year and a half ago. She has pitched through the fall/ winter usually 2-3 sessions per week 90-100 pitches per session. She has never had any soreness. After the first of the year the team started back practicing indoors. We take off from Thanksgiving to new years for team practices. She has pretty nice overhand throwing mechanics, reaches back and elbow slightly above shoulder. Like I said, a few weeks into indoor practices she started complaining about shoulder soreness the day after practice. I originally thought it was because of the break and needed to build back up. She would still throw her pitching sessions, I would ask her before and the day after if her shoulder was sore and she would always tell me "no". I would ask her after team practice again and she would say it was a little sore. So fast forward, I called her pitching coach before our session Wednesday and told him she has been a little sore after practices. We get to her session and while warming up she looked terrible, just straight arming the ball. He stopped her and asked how she was feeling and that he heard her arm had been bothering her a bit. This is the funny part. She told him it had been sore, even when pitching. I guess she was worried I would shut her down. So the next morning my wife called a friend of hers who is a retired orthopedic surgeon and told him what was going on. He just so happened to have a friend that was a shoulder specialist that does a lot with kids and sports. He rearranged his schedule to see her this morning (didn't have any appointments for a month). He examined her and said her range of motion in her right (throwing) arm was significantly less than her left. He said her muscle definition was unbelievable for her age and the injury was caused from over use/ lack of break throughout the year. He diagnosed her with GIRD. I didn't take her to the appointment, my wife did and called me with the details. I have been reading about GIRD since she told me what it was. My question is can the pitching motion cause GIRD? From what I've read its the overhand motion. Its hard to find a lot written about fastpitch and GIRD. BTW, the pain is in the front of her shoulder toward the top. He prescribed anti inflammatories and Physical therapy to teach her (and us) the proper way to gain range of motion and stretching before throwing. He wants her to lay off throwing for 4 weeks and go back to see him. Anyone else experienced this in a pitcher? I'm fairly certain it started from team practice/ throwing overhand.

 

[grcsftbll]

My daughter didn't have that but did have mild tendinitis in her elbow. Pitching hurt so we thought pitching was causing it but it turns out it was almost certainly her overhand throwing that did it. We took a month off, iced it and used a TENS a lot that first week and a half or so. When we started back up we focused on mechanics both with pitching and throwing. I still watch her like a hawk (she's only 9) to make sure her mechanics don't slip, which they often do. Then I yell out, "Water bottle!" And it cues her to remember her throwing mechanics which we fixed largely with the water bottle drill for overhand throwing. We've been playing again for about 2 months now with decreased intensity (tournaments haven't started back up yet so it's just practices) and she has not had any more pain.

I think from now on we'll be taking a nice long break when fall season ends. Whenever we have our last tournament, just take off all the way to the new year. Maybe work in a break in July/August too. Usually teams finish up in July then pick up again in Sep/Oct. It's too freaking hot here to enjoy playing then anyway. When she came back from the break she was better. The first few practices were rough as we worked on learning new things but then after that it's like it clicked and her pitching is way better than it was in the fall. Kinda cool how that works.