Arm care

[BigCountry]

My DD played in her first tournament this weekend and pitched a little to much out of the gate. She pitched around 23 innings over a weekend. For this being her first action of the season I am worried about all the soreness and stiffness she is having. What are some stretches and exercises you guys recommend doing after the tournament.
Thanks.

 

[Vertigo]

I would just Google “band work for softball pitchers” and you’ll find different band exercises for her to do. My dd does bands before she throws and between innings. Stretches after practice/games.

How old is your dd? Pre-season lifting to strengthen core, legs, and balance out upper body muscles for older players really helps. Continuing workouts in-season helps, too. Ramping up slowly if she hasn’t thrown for several weeks is the smart thing to do.

Having a good trainer who is familiar with softball pitching can really help establish a program for your dd.

 

[Coach Foster]

Alan Jaeger arm care J-Band routine. Download his free pdf, get a J-Band and do them before she throws, every time. Alan is one of the best in the business.

J-Band Softball Exercise pdf

 

[lostcreek1]

Was this 23 innings in one day or two days, just curious.

 

[Cornbread]

Run, run, run! Get all the lactic acid out. Where is she sore?

That’s way too many innings! Some can handle it, some can’t. Shoulder injuries build up over time and show up as they get older. Don’t let her pitch live again until all soreness is gone.

 

[slowcelica]

Look up the throwers 10 we do that 3 times a week.

 

[Towny9]

The problem with the 23 innings is that in order to throw that much you have to build up your arm to throw that much. As a side note - I wouldn’t advocate throwing that much in a weekend, but if you are you gotta prepare to handle that load.

23 innings at an estimated 20 pitches per inning is 460 pitches. I’m guessing in practice she doesn’t normally throw 460 pitches over a day or two span.

In summary - either throw less innings and pitches (which I would recommend) or if she is going to keep throwing that much, she better get in shape to throw that much.

To use an analogy, she had probably practiced for the mile and then went out and ran a marathon.

 

[Gambler Bob]

As you already mentioned, that is too many innings. I would make the head coach aware of your daughters soreness after pitching that many innings. If you don't make the coach aware of the situation it will most likely happen again. Have a friendly conversation with the coach and explain the situation.

My daughter is a pitcher. I have always felt that 14 innings per weekend was a number I was happy with. I don't ever want her pitching more than 18 innings in a 3 day weekend. Of course there are variables, but those inning recommendations are general guidelines.

 

[lostcreek1]

Some good advice here.
This is why there should be pitch counts in softball.

 

[Tazman]

That is way way way too many pitches. The below is the only quantitative data I've seen and it is definitely on the conservative side but not that far off of what my 2 pitchers settled on by experience.

I have seen about 1/3 of the pitchers who were serious at 10U blow out their arms by 16U. You have to be disciplined and watching your team lose when you know your DD could win it is painful but it's just not worth overdoing it at a young age.

https://www.discussfastpitch.com/attachments/screenshot_20210510-224346_drive-jpg.22230/