Good article on softball Injuries and prevention

[JAD]

Softball Injuries and Prevention - Athletic Edge - Sports Medicine - Sports Therapy - Massage Therapy - Walnut Creek - Palo Alto

My DD recently pulled a muscle in her rib cage, so I was doing some research on softball injuries and prevention and came across this article. Very good information, including recommended pitch counts by age group.

Age Pitches/Game Pitches/Day(Days 1 & 2) Pitches/Day(Day 3)
8-10 50 80 0
10-12 65 95 0
13-14 80 115 80
15-over 100 140 100

Rest Periods

Once girls begin to play competitively, they often play two games per day on two or three consecutive days. Two days of rest for pitchers is essential to prevent injuries. Additional guidelines include:

Girls < 12 years - only 2 days of consecutive pitching
Girls > 13 years - only 3 days of consecutive pitching

Rest means no live pitches, including batting practice. Pitchers may need to 'loosen up' with a flexibility routine on the second rest day and can participate in hitting and field drills.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

Ya know I would have to jump in here....

Stats say that roughly just over 30% of adolescent pitchers WILL go out of commission at one point or another due to "lower back pain". I have also investigated the crud out of this and potentially 27% of adolescent pitchers will have had a stress fracture in their lower back due to torso-torque repetitive motions (pitching AND batting). The black magic part is that large proportions of adolescent pitchers will develop stress fractures but stay asymtomatic to the fracture (only ever finding out of the fracture potentially from xrays & scans taken later in life for new back pain then or for other reasons).

Point being that lumbar stress fractures are WAY more prevalent than the average sb crowd is even aware of. That's why I LOVE seeing threads like the other one today that has the video magnifying the importance of core strength & stability.

Here is my broken record plea to you young pitcher parents => as hard as you drive your DD to be the best pitcher they can be you should stress even that much more the drive that your DD should have to be "iron-woman-core" equivalent!!!

Merry xmas all

 

[SoCal_Dad]

Softball Injuries and Prevention - Athletic Edge - Sports Medicine - Sports Therapy - Massage Therapy - Walnut Creek - Palo Alto

It is an excellent article. I originally saw it on the Andrews Institute website and they credit it as being part of th STOP Sports Injury campaign - see Injury Prevention / STOP Sports Injuries: The Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine and Softball Injuries | Softball Injury Prevention & Treatment

 

[T Red]

My DD as I would imagine most pitchers throw about 75 per day or more for practice. We would do it everyday if schedules allowed. By the time she warms up and throws each pitch it takes that many.

The counts in that article seem low to me. But I'm definitely not an expert. Are there any other studies that support these numbers?

I may need to change her practice. If she is not pitching one day she wants to hit. It looks like the batting motion may cause issues also. Maybe we can cut down on the quantity and focus more on the quality of the reps.

On a good note (thanks to the forum) she is now working out with a trainer several times a week mainly on her core. I'm a believer in core training now, and I may join them as my back has always been weak.

 

[SoCal_Dad]

The counts in that article seem low to me. But I'm definitely not an expert. Are there any other studies that support these numbers?

They're conservative in their recommendations for what is safe because they don't want to be sued by someone that is injured while following them. Exceeding them doesn't mean an injury will occur, but there is a corresponding increased risk that goes along with how much you exceed them. How often you exceed them is another factor.