Please share your dds injury and recovery story with lessons learned.

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Aug 29, 2018
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How did she pitch with a cast? I want to thank everyone for your thoughtful answers. I can’t believe I ignored this for so long and allowed her to play. I truly had no idea how serious these injuries are and I only hope I didn’t wait too long to get treatment. I think i need to find a better specialist who focuses on the foot.
 
Jun 12, 2015
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I'm glad we learned pretty early (thanks, DFP) how easy it can be to do damage to a child by not giving them enough time off. Listen to the doctors and let her recover fully.
 
May 27, 2013
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How did she pitch with a cast? .

So she had a green stick fracture of the left ulna. The ortho said in all reality she could have gotten away with a splint but being an active, clumsy 10 year old we opted for the cast to help protect it better if she fell or bumped it hard, etc. Being it was her non-dominant arm, she would just pitch at her lessons without wearing her glove. Since it was a green stick fracture (think of a green branch on a tree - they tend to splinter but not break easily) there was no concern that the bones would shift or anything. After a week post injury, she was pain-free and able to resume pitching (obviously not in games).
 
Apr 16, 2013
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My DD has had her fair share of injuries. Not as many as some have, but I can share a few simple thoughts.

First, always see a sports doctor. Your regular doc will give you the same answer, verbatim, almost every time. A sports doc will far better understand the injury and the desire/need to return to play.

Second, PT!!! Go to a good physical therapist and FOLLOW the routine! The stretches and exercises are very specifically tailored to help you/your child get back to optimal health as soon as possible.

Three, LIFT! Strength training/lifting increases bone, tendon, and muscle strength. Not only does it make you a better athlete, but it makes you less susceptible to injury.
 

Cannonball

Ex "Expert"
Feb 25, 2009
4,855
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The internet isn't big enough for me to list my dd's injuries. Just for fun here are a couple. There was the spider bite. Good times. She almost died. Then, after being cleared to play in a national championship, the phone call to not let her play but get her back to the hospital fast. Blood test results showed the venom attacking her heart. There was the time she hit a home run while tearing her back shoulder. Really don't know what went wrong. Different Doctors, different ideas. Long story short, whatever she did to hurt that shoulder, don't do it again. For fun, there was the time she slid into home plate and hurt her hip while getting a concussion. I have the picture. It was an all out assault by the catcher. More good times made only better when she beat that team two weeks later in regional play. One of my favorites was the knee that collapsed at the end of her senior year. She could not walk. She played every game. The Doc said with this one that she was already hurt so if she could tolerate the pain, they would drain the knee each game date and let her finish her senior year. More fun times. What was pretty special was that one team walked her 6 out of the 7 times she came to the plate that day. I'll save you the more boring hit by line drives to the face two times. The line drive to the ribs was something. The time she ran into a fence. ...
 
Feb 17, 2014
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First, I will agree with what everyone has already said in this thread. Listen to your doctors and make sure your DD listens to her body. If her coaches are pressuring you to let her play, they don't care about her. They only care about winning and that's not important at her age.

My DD has had 3 injures that have led to more than a month off.

1st year 12u, my DD suffered a stress fracture of her S1 vertebrae. She had pain for a few weeks before we went to the doctor. It took another couple weeks to figure it out. She was shut down by her doctor the Friday of the first tournament of the spring for 3 months. So, she missed April, May and June. It was hard. She was the #1 pitcher, #3 hitter. She had a great fall season and we knew the spring was going to be a lot of fun. I look back today and know that listening to the doctor was the right decision.

In the fall of 1st year 14u, she started having issues with her shin. We thought it was shin splints and she battled through it for weeks. Then she had tournament where it flared up really bad and she could no longer run or jump. It was that debilitating. Turns out it was tibial tendinitis. She went to therapy for a couple of weeks and it didn't get better. Her therapist sent her to another therapist that knows how to perform dry needling. It worked wonders. The day after her first treatment she was able to run and jump again. She was out for 2 more weeks and has been fine.

This past fall, last tournament on Saturday, she was having pain similar to the tendinitis. Turns out it was a stress fracture of the tibia. In a boot for a month, no activity for another month. All seems good now.

In all of these situations, we listened to the doctor. Same doctor for all 3.

Trust me when I say that when your DD is 16u and close to living her dreams, you're going to realize that doing the right thing for her now is going to be important for her then. Trust your doctors. If your coaches are pressuring you to let her play, they are not looking out for her.
 
Dec 11, 2010
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My daughters injury story doesn’t have an accompanying recovery story. She has a permanent debilitating back injury that will cause her pain for the rest of her life. At her age non-narcotic management of the pain is the best that can be hoped for. Someday she will have surgery. Probably a series of surgeries.

I’m not yet willing to completely share it, I will one day.

I will say this: Listen to your body. Just because you are capable of “playing through pain” does not mean you should. There are times when “work harder” is the wrong answer. One day a player feels that her journey has become her own. It is hers to deal with, she owns it. There is one exception- nagging injury. Make it a condition that she is required to discuss pain and injury not only with coaches, trainers and doctors, but with her parents.

Pain that doesn’t go away requires X-Rays and MRI’s. Make her agree to that. Sometimes players that own their journey don’t want to “make a big deal” out of injury for team reasons. They want to power through. They want to own a spot on the field. Let her know that you will find a way to do diagnostic imaging sooner rather than later, and the team doesn’t need to know about it.

It hasn’t been a year yet. I haven’t completely wrapped my head around what happened to my daughter. I don’t think she truly knows how she was injured with certainty. Every time she is home I learn another small piece of the puzzle. She truly keeps it all in. And I know better and better that when I took her to dinner after a game or practice with an ice pack Saran wrapped to her back I should have been asking her questions when she said “it’s no big deal, I’m just a little sore.”
 
Apr 28, 2014
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Great advice above!
DD and I worked out a pain scale that she uses to tell me where she is. We all know that every kid is different in tolerance for pain. DS plays football and would play if he lost a limb on the last play. That said I never marginalize DD's pain. We discuss and will tell coaches she's shut down if need be. I will tell you that the better your DD gets and more valuable she is to her team the more pressure there is placed on her by coaches. We need to fight that. Playing hurt is no good for anyone.
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
DD lies to us and her coaches.

She broke her toe going back to 1st and kept playing for a week. Her foot had colors I did not know existed .

Doctor asked DD leave the room so they could yell us.

You need to keep a close on on them.
 

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