Little League shoulder

[CoogansBluff]

I had never heard of this condition, but my daughter was diagnosed with it Monday.

Quoting from online, LL shoulder is an injury to the growth plate in the shoulder caused by -

-Repeated overhead throwing using improper mechanics
-Lack of muscle strength and endurance
-Too much throwing

Doctor believes my daughter's case to be mild and due to overuse and not form or lack of strength/endurance (although he's never seen her form). He recommends no throwing until next tournament (2 weeks), and then limiting the number of throws.

Anyone had experience with this? Doctor said there are no strength exercises for this, but I'm now skeptical for having read more.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Go to the site for Alan Jaeger's long toss program. I like his suggestions and I use his J Bands for strengthening my shoulder area.

I had a frozen shoulder, twice, and underwent rehab for it. The pain was significant. I now stretch my shoulders in a warm pool, almost daily. I don't know if you have a pool available. I would have her avoid that stretch where you stand and place your arm across your body and pull on the arm, with your other hand. By the way, does the coach have her do those?

 

[James Smith]

Player on DD’s Team might have this, they did not call it this.

Doctor thinks they are going thru a growth spurt and to limit her throwing for a couple months, her Arm shut her down for a little bit even though her back was the Issue. For a growth plate Issue that makes sense to me.

Remeber this is free advice and you get what you pay for.

Edit: She is a P and parents said she was done for the year pitching, maybe over cautious but like your DD she is young. No hurry.

 

[CoogansBluff]

I would have her avoid that stretch where you stand and place your arm across your body and pull on the arm, with your other hand. By the way, does the coach have her do those?

Just joined a new team, and I haven't really noticed. I don't think they warm up enough, though. Will check out Jaeger.

I've often wondered how baseball pitchers are placed on such strict pitch counts, yet no one pays attention to how many times a girl might throw when playing six games in two days (or one day, for that matter). If you're the shortstop or center fielder, you're constantly throwing just in warmups, either before the game or even between innings. I'd be curious to know how many throws kids make in a long tournament day.

 

[James Smith]

Understand what you are saying, I do not think I would like the answer.

 

[sftblldad7]

Here you go Bluff, Because it is travel ball and the only thing that people care about is winning. Parents are dumb, they get caught up with who is the best pitcher or my girl needs to pitch.
Take this for what it is worth. I am from the northeast and we were at a camp and there was a coach from Florida St. there. During a break I had to ask the question, Why would Florida St. have to come up to the Northeast for players ? The answer I got " we love to get pitchers from the North because they only play a 1/3 of the games that we do. The pitchers down south have thrown a lot of pitches by the time we get them and are starting to break down while the Northern kids will be just hitting there prime".

 

[littlereddeer1]

My daughter was diagnosed with this 3 months ago. She had no pain in the shoulder area. All of a sudden her arm circle was terrible, she lost speed and no control. I took her to the sports medicine Dr and this is what he diagnosed. 6 weeks of physical therapy 2 times a week. No throwing for 7 weeks. She is to continue doing the exercises with the bands every day. It has taken 3 weeks to get her arm circle straightened back out. She will start pitching next weekend in tournaments again. It has been a long road to recovery, but she is almost back.

 

[CoogansBluff]

What band exercises is your daughter using? My DD is not a pitcher, and the injury is not so severe that it has affected her throwing except she's a little wilder. Just causes pain. What are the best band exercises?

 

[Easton33]

Here you go Bluff, Because it is travel ball and the only thing that people care about is winning. Parents are dumb, they get caught up with who is the best pitcher or my girl needs to pitch.
Take this for what it is worth. I am from the northeast and we were at a camp and there was a coach from Florida St. there. During a break I had to ask the question, Why would Florida St. have to come up to the Northeast for players ? The answer I got " we love to get pitchers from the North because they only play a 1/3 of the games that we do. The pitchers down south have thrown a lot of pitches by the time we get them and are starting to break down while the Northern kids will be just hitting there prime".

Florida State has 4 pitchers on roster, 2 from Fla., 1 from Ga., and the other from Va. There is not 1 "northern" player on their team, all are from warm weather states. But I do think one of their pitchers is from North Florida if that makes it better.

 

[guero_gordo]

When DD rehabbed an overuse shoulder injury, the PT's stressed balancing the shoulder, both strength and range of motion were uneven. The front side of the shoulder gets all the strength, the backside all the length. They also worked on core.

She's a C, so overhand throw, and her mechanics were good, but pitchers will have the same problem, and bad mechanics will magnify it either way.