DD catches and pitchs-now having elbow pain

[gretchen473]

I posted this in the ptiching forum also, sorry to everyone who has read this there. My daughter plays in a 14u league. They play 2- 5 inning games every Mon and Wed. She usually pitchs one game and catchs the next or vice versa. They practice on Tues/Thur and she throws at home daily. She played ball through school in the spring and started having some elbow pain then. We rested it, iced and Adviled it. Now this summer things are getting worse. She's working with a pitching coach and says the pain is actually worse when she catchs and throws overhand. You can now hear a tiny click when she bends the elbow and one time her bicep muscle got very tight. We are still icing, bracing and Adviling it. I'm pretty sure it's just overuse, but did call her doc today. Any suggestions on stretchs or warm ups. At only 13 she has a lot of pitching years ahead of her. She will be done with softball at the end of the month and will go right into volleyball. She also will pitch year round with the coach. How long of a "rest" is enough when giving the arm a good break?

Gretchen

 

[Amy in AZ.]

The elbow is telling you something is wrong. Shut her down until she sees the doctor. In the meantime (and I am only a mom/teacher/coach) if it was my daughter, I would have her plunge the elbow in a bowl of ice for about 10 minutes, 4 times a day.

I would have guessed it is tendonitis, but the clicking isn't something that I am familiar with.

 

[interested18]

From my experience (coach, athlete, high school trainer) it sounds like the pitching causes the inflammation (especially curveballs which add a lot of strain on the elbow) but the pain usually comes when you change back to throwing over hand. Rest (at least a month or two with no athletic use of the elbow), ice, and Advil should reduce the pain and tendonitis but there could be an underlying cause. Doctors specializing in orthopedic medicine are always the best to see in these situations.

 

[3sDad]

Side Arm?

Does she throw side arm (overhand)? When she throws the ball back to pitcher for example, it should spin end over end..like a SP back spin pitch...not side to side, like a top spinning...Side arming will hurt a players elbow....spent many an hour fixing that on my DD

 

[Lozza]

I don't know what it is with people posting medical problems on here.

PLEASE take her to a doctor. They are the professionals. It is better not to risk anything. They can tell you what is the proper rest time. No-one on here can.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I look at message boards as just people talking among friends, not looking for medical advice.

It is easy for me to tell someone to go to the doctor. Ha. If I still lived in my little home town in IL. I would, of course, need health insurance and an appointment with our local general practitioner. So, I get into him within 3 days and I tell him my daughter's shoulder clicks. He is going to look at me like I am out of my mind. He only wants to look in her throat and her ears.

So, I tell him several things that could be the problem (that I learned here) and ask for him to send us to "a sports, ortho guy that specializes in shoulders." If I am lucky, he might know of someone. But generally, I am going to have to take him a name. (Message boards, here I come.)

After, I find a name and get a referral, I call the shoulder specialist in Decatur, IL (35 miles away) and find that his earliest available appointment is in 6 weeks. And that is just for an initial examination.

I wish that seeing a doctor was easier, than this, but it can be a nightmare.