Not sure where to go from here...HELP!!!

My daughter is 12 . Pitched HE for 1 year and has been with a coach doing IR for one year. This year we’ve had two injuries. First was January, bursitis in her knee. After 5 weeks off & an MRI we figured this out. PT & stretching fixed it. This summer she’s been having some shoulder pain across the back of her shoulder. We’ve been seeing a chiropractor, doing some therapy he offers & having him tape with rock tape before tournaments. Injury happened late May throwing a softball in from outfield. Summer volleyball league started the following week & I believe That continued to irritate it.
We have been playing softball a lot the last 2 months. She’s seeing her pitching coach weekly. We work at home 3-5 days a week depending on wether she’s playing, plus tournaments. The only resource I’d found besides our pitching coach online was fastpitch power. I submitted A video for analysis a couple weeks ago and There is some mechanical breakdown going on for sure.
Because she started hurting again last week we saw the orthopedic doctor Monday & hes ordered PT & 3-4 weeks off. If it doesent improve we will do an MRI. Right now the orders say strained shoulder. He did toss the word impingement around during the examination.

My questions are these:

1. Have I messed My daughter up? Will rest, a strength/conditioning program & fixing mechanical breakdown issues be enough to keep this from continuing to happen?

2. Should we walk away from softball for a while so she can heal/develop/mature/experience other things?

3. if/when we go back to pitching should we find a new pitching coach?

4. if fastpitch power is no good should I even Be concerned with their analysis?

I’m sorry for rambling! I know There’s a lot going on in this post. I just Feel overwhelmed, a little defeated & like I’ve messed up my kid which of course is not my intention whatsoever.

Where is she hurting? Is it right behind the scapula? Are fingers going numb?

From my experience, volleyball hitters do aggravate the same muscles, nerves that pitchers do. Thoracic outlet syndrome is a somewhat common injury.

I don't think that the fastpitch pitching motion would cause that kind of injury, however practicing 3-5 days a week puts a load on an already weakened shoulder and probably doesn't help with healing. Without seeing video it's impossible to say whether your present coach is doing a good job or form an opinion on the Fastpitch Power recommendations. You've got 3-4 weeks off and some PT so take the time to relax and let things settle down, you can make your decisions when she decides to resume pitching.

3girls said:

Where is she hurting? Is it right behind the scapula? Are fingers going numb?

From my experience, volleyball hitters do aggravate the same muscles, nerves that pitchers do. Thoracic outlet syndrome is a somewhat common injury.

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Thank you! This makes lots of sense! No there is no numbness. Directly across the scapula & this last time it went down the upper arm a little less than half way to the elbow.

ArmWhip said:

I don't think that the fastpitch pitching motion would cause that kind of injury, however practicing 3-5 days a week puts a load on an already weakened shoulder and probably doesn't help with healing. Without seeing video it's impossible to say whether your present coach is doing a good job or form an opinion on the Fastpitch Power recommendations. You've got 3-4 weeks off and some PT so take the time to relax and let things settle down, you can make your decisions when she decides to resume pitching.

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Thank you. You are right. We will do just that.

I don't have any advice, but I can totally relate. My daughter is same age. She had an overuse injury last fall and hasn't been the same since. Says now she has to warm up way longer than before and complains of pain in the shoulder at times also. I made her take off July (except for tryout day) where all we did was stretching and pt exercises. I'm not sure if the rest worked or not yet- we will start throwing this weekend and build back up...hopefully with no more pain. We'll see. I keep wondering if she's also "done" at the ripe age of 12- or if she/we did long term damage. It sucks.

My questions are these:

1. Have I messed My daughter up? Will rest, a strength/conditioning program & fixing mechanical breakdown issues be enough to keep this from continuing to happen?

--- Probably yes. But nothing enough rest and proper rehab won't fix.. Once she has pain, shut it down. at 12 years old, if you need to tape to keep the pain at bay, you probably should not be playing. My dd missed over 6 months of pitching this winter / spring due to over use injury. We took off 6 weeks in the winter, then started up and shut down 2 weeks later for another month. It took another month of only playing 2b one game per tourney before she felt normal again. Then she was able to start pitching again. And that was a start from scratch, lessons with only partial throwing etc... She was seeing a physical therapist the whole time. PT also totally changed up her routine after the 2nd shut down.

2. Should we walk away from softball for a while so she can heal/develop/mature/experience other things?
--- Yes, but 'a while' might only need to be 6 weeks or 2 months. Does swinging a bat bother her? IF not, let her take tee swings if she likes. She can also field grounders and drop them in a bucket instead of throwing to a base. Of course, this is onlt if she loves it and is chomping at the bit. Otherwise, let her body rest.

3. if/when we go back to pitching should we find a new pitching coach?
--- as said, without seeing her pitch, or knowing the PC it is not fair to say. My dd's over use injury which manifested as pain while pitches was caused by too much over hand throwing. So you can't jump to conclusions.

4. if fastpitch power is no good should I even Be concerned with their analysis?
--- I don't know.

I’m sorry for rambling! I know There’s a lot going on in this post. I just Feel overwhelmed, a little defeated & like I’ve messed up my kid which of course is not my intention whatsoever.
--- Any of us that have had our children hurt have been there. As noted, I was in the same place in Feb that you are now.

8 other positions besides P.. Maybe give that up for a little bit.

Various health reasons has stopped DD Pitching for a while, she picked it back up quickly. IMO she will not lose any ground with the other pitchers.

1. Have I messed My daughter up? Will rest, a strength/conditioning program & fixing mechanical breakdown issues be enough to keep this from continuing to happen?\

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No one knows. Some kids can pitch all the time without injury. Other kids can't.

Let her rest and recover. Then, try it again. If she gets hurts again, then she may need to think twice about pitching.

Should we walk away from softball for a while so she can heal/develop/mature/experience other things?

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IMHO, you were hitting it too hard. During the TB season, my DD would do a light practice once a week.

f/when we go back to pitching should we find a new pitching coach?

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It doesn't sound like the PC was the problem. I think you were just working her too much.

4. if fastpitch power is no good should I even Be concerned with their analysis?

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Most likely, the problem was overuse, not mechanics.

The best approach is for you to understand basic pitching mechanics.

I would have asked them to do the MRI