Back injury during pitching practice

[knightsb]

DD injured her back during pitching practice Saturday. Her mom took her to the Sports Medicine MD on Monday. He had her do various push and pull type movements to determine the location of the injury. Based on his assessment no x-ray was required. He diagnosed a muscle strain in the middle to upper back on her left (glove hand side). I was listening in on wife’s speaker phone from work. We were working on her stride foot landing. She tends to land on a weak left side with her weight too far forward. She was trying to firm up the left side and keep her chin and chest back. She pitched much better coming into a firm left side and trying to get more of an arm whip action. She never complained of any injury during practice. It wasn’t until later in the evening when her back started to get stiff and the pain set in. We applied a heating pad and gave her some ibuprofen. Dr says to take a couple of weeks off then ease back into it. He also gave her a sheet of exercises to do to strengthen core etc…

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Watch how Sarah Pauly lands here http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/5208-model-pitchers-2.html in post #11. I teach this landing of the front foot - toe first. Many girls land flat footed, and that jars the back. We don't walk that way and we shouldn't pitch that way. I call it "foot plop" and I try to avoid it.

I am not sure that you really had a question. I just thought that I would throw this out there. Good luck to your DD. Let us know how she progresses.

 

[feemafive]

my dd had delayed onset of pain to her lower back after pitching 2 games using new mechanics in 10U. We were thinking new mechanics muscel pain, not surprised. It turned out to be a very serious injury that made her miss 6 wks of school, but we still don't know root cause. Is lower lumbar injury common for adolecent pitchers?

 

[knightsb]

my dd had delayed onset of pain to her lower back after pitching 2 games using new mechanics in 10U. We were thinking new mechanics muscel pain, not surprised. It turned out to be a very serious injury that made her miss 6 wks of school, but we still don't know root cause. Is lower lumbar injury common for adolecent pitchers?

feemafive,

Although I cannot be 100% certain, I believe my DDs back injury was as least partly due to wrong mechanics. The DFP forums and posters are full of knowledge and by comparing a video of DDs pitching in slow motion with those in the Model Pitchers thread, it was clear she had some issues, and one big one was with her stride foot landing and the forward body lean at release (see this thread http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/5854-correcting-stride-foot-angle.html#post59938 post #9) If you look at the 4th picture you can see the poor upper body posture which I believe contributed to her back injury. She went to a sports medicine doctor who indicated the injury was most likely a muscle strain and not anything more serious. He provided a set of core exercises which she is still doing. The doctor had her take two weeks off from all activities which included her volleyball, tennis, and dance. After two weeks we started easing back into pitching and I didn’t have her start throwing real hard until we addressed some of her mechanical issues. I will try to find the core exercises the Doctor provided and post them later this week.

 

[Lozza]

Pilates, pilates, pilates, pilates.

It's fun, it's GREAT for the core and has helped me recover from a serious back injury suffered at 21. Even just as preventative, it's a great methord.

I have to say, what is being done to a nine year old that is causing her injury?

 

[bobbyb]

I agree here with Screwball here...Adolescent children should not have back pain.

If they do...its from trauma (ex: injury or overuse), structure or functional abnormalities (including disease, skeletal/muscle imbalances).

This is something to keep an eye on for young pitchers and teen pitchers.

I noticed after the second year of dd pitching at 12 yr old (right handed)...she was starting to get muscle imbalances on the left lower body and right upper shoulder/spine...that was starting to create structure imbalances. The shoulder was showing it visually... the most...and stood out to me one day.

I had her start doing counter exercises on everything possible. We were using the accelerator then and i made her do both arms, right and left. We started doing Arm Strong band exercises for upper body...both left and right sides... from solid stances related to pitching. We added more dynamic stretching prior to workouts. We had already been doing core and we added more flexibility exercise.

Even at that...girls do not come into their strength in the hip area till closer to 14-15 (in general)...which is their foundation....so you must be careful during the development years. Keep an eye out for these imbalances...work both sides of the body...get plenty of rest...and do not over throw.

If you have an adolescent with back pain...go to the doctor.

 

[rowdy]

Any pain is an indication that you are doing something wrong. Make sure you are getting good teaching and don't be afraid to video your kids pitching so you can see what they are doing at a slow speed. I have seem many girls over the years, including my own players who have terrible mechanics but throw the ball hard so they are reluctant to change.

If you have a daughter or instructor who puts speed above mechanics then either retire your daughter or fire your teacher. Once you have a back injury it will be with her for a long time.

 

[FPMark]

My DD had back pain when she slid in 2nd once (delayed onset). We used a heating pad on it untill the end of the season (2weeks). She had no more pain untill she was hitting during winter workouts. The twisting motion of the hips would make it hurt, so we took her to a sports orthopedic. He didn't find anything wrong, but recomended a physical theropist. When we took her there, the theropist found that her hip was tilted, and stretching the muscle along one side of her back. She adjusted it to get it back in position and did core exersizes with my DD for 6 weeks. She is all better now with no more pain.

I wonder if incorrect landing on the stride foot could cause the same type problem for pitchers. I don't know, but it might be worth a trip to the Dr. or chiropractor to see. We had no idea her hip was crooked because she never limped or walked funny in any way, plus she doesn't pitch. Her only problem was throwing and hitting.