Please share your dds injury and recovery story with lessons learned.

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Aug 29, 2018
83
8
My dd is in 2nd year 10u. Almost 11. She’s been on a travel team since age 8. (Her dads idea not mine. I was against it the first 2 years and finally gave in last year) she’s a starting pitcher and lead off batter for her travel team. She’s a multi sport athlete. She also plays volleyball, golf, tennis, and LAX. I realize she shouldn’t be playing 2 sports in a season, but she has been the last couple years, with time off in the winter and end of summer. Except now her travel team starts practicing in Jan, which is new this year,

This fall she suffered a stress fracture to her navicular bone in her mid foot. The dr believes she was playing through pain for a few months before the diagnosis. Throughout the diagnostic process, we also learned she has collapsed arches and post tibial tendonitis. She was in a boot for 2 months and it didn’t heal the injury. I wish the dr cast it instead because it’s impossible to keep her in it all the time, and she’s super active. She’s been to 3 or 4 dr. And PT. She’s getting custom orthotics, I bought her stability shoes, she still can’t run, and now practices have started for her travel team, and she can’t play yet. She’s getting another MRI next week. The pain comes back after she does any physical activity, and she gets relief through icing and rest, but this is an indicator she isn’t healed.

She doesn’t want to sit out for the spring, but I’m not sure what to do. She would be so depressed sitting around the house all day knowing she’s missing out on playing, Can anyone share with me an injury that took a long time to heal and what dd did if the injury was going on during the season. This is very difficult to deal with and I have a lot of shoulda coulda etc. and opinions on the whole year round travel sports industry.

Her coaches have been fairly persistent and want her to play so I’ve been putting them off. I just withdrew her from LAX before that season even started. I Told another coach she couldnt guest play on his travel team, or join practice with them, and considering asking her rec coach if she can be an “assistant coach” and work with the newbies and younger girls on the basics, help bench or base coach. I’m not sure what to do about her regular travel team yet. Does she go to practice and sit on the bench for 2 hours? They aren’t playing a tournament until April. Hoping she’s better by then. I just can’t believe she’s so young with this issue. I wish we never started her doing this so young, but it seems to be the norm now unfortunately, and I don’t see it changing any time soon.
 

WARRIORMIKE

Pro-Staff Everything
Oct 5, 2009
2,815
48
At the Jewel in San Diego
My dd is in 2nd year 10u. Almost 11. She’s been on a travel team since age 8. (Her dads idea not mine. I was against it the first 2 years and finally gave in last year) she’s a starting pitcher and lead off batter for her travel team. She’s a multi sport athlete. She also plays volleyball, golf, tennis, and LAX. I realize she shouldn’t be playing 2 sports in a season, but she has been the last couple years, with time off in the winter and end of summer. Except now her travel team starts practicing in Jan, which is new this year,

She needs to slow down. Your dd's body needs time to rest. One sport a season is plenty.
 
Apr 20, 2015
961
93
I don't have experience with a long term injury but I did have to sit my dd due to a concussion and while it was hell to live with her I had to be the parent. You already know what the answer is. Listen to her doctor. Listen to your instincts. One year at this age for a lifetime is not a bad trade. Use the time to develop her non sports interests and allow her to explore new things to stay active. Hang in there mama you got this.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
I hope your DD recovers quickly.

My DD's injury list is a lot longer than I want to type out the details of - broken fingers (5x, not all on the field), concussions (3x), MCL strain (2x), UCL strain, ulnar nerve issue, Sever's disease... That's all I can think of, but there might be more. Some of these were a couple of weeks. Some were 6+. The nerve issue took 10 weeks to get back to being able to throw again (she could still bat). My DD is 14. She's been playing since 8. TB since 10.

One thing I have always insisted on was her continuing to attend team practice and games while recovering from injuries. Just because you can't participate 100% doesn't mean you're not a part of the team, or can't contribute in some way. Practices aren't just about getting reps, but about learning the game. If you aren't learning along side your teammates, you're falling behind. My DD has spent more practices sitting on a bucket next to the HC, and more entire games in the dugout (including a week in Reno, NV at our biggest tournament of the year) than either of us want to try to count, but she was there to learn at practice and cheer on her teammates at games.
 
Apr 28, 2014
2,316
113
Late summer of 2017 DD shared that her lower back on her right side was hurting. We had just come back from Myrtle Beach and she pitched in 7 games. We thought that it was overuse and decided to give her a break. 4 weeks later she got back at it and within 15 minutes the pain was back and even worse. With a busy fall season coming up and travel to Florida and Atlanta we started to think this was gonna be an issue. Took her to our local hospitals orthopedic. The guy asked her 3-4 questions and touched her back. Said that he felt that it was a muscle pull and rest would heal it. We told him about the 4 week break and that it didn't help. He recommended stretching and physical therapy along with more rest from pitching. He said take 3 weeks off and try it again. We did and same results. Took her back and he ordered an MRI to check for pars.
Results came back negative for a fracture but still no answers. At this point we decided to take her to one of best health systems in nation and get an expert. She was almost unable to walk or sleep due to the pain. The new orthopedic spent 3 hours with DD during her exam. He looked over the MRI and performed range of motion tests. Last test was a core strength test. At the end of the exam he said "this may be 1 of only 2 cases of SI Joint inflammation that I have seen in 20 years". He went on to explain that DD's core strength was a 2 out of 10. I was shocked... She had been going to a gym and she had a full 6 pack.
He said "A six pack is not your core". He prescribed a list of exercises for her to do each day and said within 6 weeks she would be 100%.
Almost to the day at the 6 week mark she was completed recovered. Best advice is with any injury go to the best doctor you can find.
 
Last edited:

Strike2

Allergic to BS
Nov 14, 2014
2,044
113
My daughter has never suffered a significant injury. She has been active all her life, and is starting her 12th season of softball. Although there have been a few times where I wondered if she'd get up after a nasty collision, she seems to be made of rubber. However, I oversee all of what she does in terms of conditioning and training. I pay close attention and ask questions about how she's doing and what hurts after a workout or practice. If something bothers her beyond normal muscle fatigue, she tells me, and we slow it down for awhile. She takes breaks from doing anything at all late in mid-summer and at the end of the year.

I've seen a lot of repetitive motion injuries with other kids, and those who don't deal with it don't play for much longer. I know younger adults who are crippled from their youth and college sports experience. Your DD, if she doesn't get a chance to fully recover and heal, will likely not be playing sports as a teenager. You need to be the parent, throttle her back, and focus on healing injuries that no 11 yo should have. She needs to learn to pay attention to what her body is telling her, but until that happens, you need to be the monitor. If that involves telling any coach no, then so be it. Best of luck to you.
 
Jun 14, 2018
172
28
We are going through our first injury right now. DD (1st year 12U) broke her thumb at the joint warming a pitcher up. I was at the game (Sunday) and thought it was funny she didn't play at all but being the new kid on the team I wasn't all that shocked. I talked to DD after the game and she didn't say anything about her hand or thumb hurting, but she gave hugs and left with her mother (exwife). I get a call on that Thursday from her mom saying that DD has said her hand hurts but is feeling better. I pick her up from school and we talk about the games the past weekend, playing with her new team, making friends with her new teammates, and then I bring up the hand. I get told it is not the hand but the thumb and it still hurts.

We talk about that for awhile on our way to batting practice and I tell her if it hurts at all when you swing a bat you can't do it. Knowing DD she wouldn't tell anybody if it hurt so I kept an eye on her and after swinging the bat for tee work, she started to "flex" her thumb. I walked in the cage tapped her on the helmet and told her she was done for the night. Coach and I talked about it and he agreed with me that she needed to have it looked at before we proceeded. The next day we ended up getting hammered with 12"-14" of snow and everything shut down but the ER. I waited until an urgent care with xrays opened up and took her up there to get the xrays done to see if it was broke on Sunday morning with most things opened back up. It was broke!

DD is bummed out that she can't do much right now and she sure does try to do everything she is not to do. Just like Eric F DD goes to all the practices and is on the turf standing next to the coach listening trying to soak up as much as she can. She wants to be there to cheer on her teammates even though we are just practicing because she thinks that what you should do.


When it comes to your DD talk to her about slowing down for just awhile. I know it is hard but bring dad into the conversation as well so everybody is on the same page. Most importantly listen to the doctors, they really do what your kid just as healthy as you do.
 
Sep 19, 2018
928
93
DD is 9. Late last summer, the top of her foot would hurt when running. Oddly she only complained about it when she had to go to softball practice (which she did not enjoy). When she took herself out of a rec soccer game, we knew it was real. We could not get get a quick appointment with our preferred podiatrist so we went to another one.

They took xrays and told use they were 90 sure it was a stress fracture. Take 2 weeks of no running / rest and come back, if things are not a lot better, we'll do an MRI.

We kept our appointment with the preferred doc and saw him 1 week later. The first thing he had my DD do was core strength tests. When he got to 1 leg squats, One one side, her knee was collapsing in and she could not keep her balance. Definitely NOT a stress fracture. Her imbalanced and week core had her compensating and caused the pain (he called it tendonitis)

He prescribed core strength exercises, stretching, put in SuperFeet cups (not the whole insole) and compression socks and go play.
https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/...p/16os1us1stplntrfsrip?Product=ProductSuggest

Less than a week later there was no pain at all.

I don't have time to find the article now, but I read recently that compression is much better for injury than ice. The article indicated that ice should only be used for pain management. However, as I read the article, it seemed to me that the suggestion to only use ice for pain management was assuming that compression was already being used.
 
Last edited:
Nov 26, 2010
4,784
113
Michigan
I would 100% listen to your doctors and not advice from strangers on the internet. Your dds life doesn’t end when her sports career ends
And neither do the results of improper care for injuries.

The lasting impact of poorly healed feet will last a lifetime. Don’t cave in to your dd or these ignorant coaches. Listen
To the doctors and rest your dd. Yeah she might be mad about it. But that’s nothing compared to a lifetime of foot pain.
 
May 27, 2013
2,353
113
My dd used to be a ballet dancer and at the ripe old age of 10 developed tendinitis in her Achilles’ tendon. Lots of PT and a good sports medicine doc helped with that but it took a good 6 weeks or so that she couldn’t dance. Luckily pitching wasn’t a priority back then and it hasn’t seemed to creep back up since.

She also broke her non-dominant arm at 10 during a collision at home plate where she ran in to cover, had the ball and was ready to put the tag down, and the girl did not slide. 4 weeks in a cast. Kept pitching (lessons and practice with me) while casted.
 

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