Risk of injury from pitching softball underhand vs. Overhand baseball

[radness]

Even though I stopped pitching my Soph year in HS (I couldn’t pitch and play SS..my arm would be toast for like 3 or 4 days after I pitched) I had shoulder pain pretty much from Soph year in HS all the way through till I stopped playing in College. Never told anybody about and never found out what was wrong with it. I threw a lot of BP in those years (100’s of pitches every day in the summer) as if I wanted somebody to throw me BP I would need to throw BP to them and probably never warmed up properly. Really dumb in a number of ways…My father pitched and played SS in college but had to stop pitching because of arm problems so maybe we are just genetically crappy when it comes to that Hopefully I can persuade my sons to not pitch…lol.

Now in my old age if I throw too much OH my elbow will bother me but I attribute that to tendonitis from too many years of heavy pressing movements in the weight room. Doesn’t really matter now though so I just grin and bear it..lol.

... disclaimer I liked your post cuz I appreciate those great life stories!!!... But I'm not liking the pain you suffered
And you never told anybody, and you share it here that's pretty neat Mr. Pattar!

See you threw hundreds of pitches for batting practice. (Btw, thank you)

How would you say that affected your arm situation?

 

[_MIA_]

...
How would you say that affected your arm situation?

Didn’t help..lol. I would be at the park all day and whoever showed up I would throw to so they would throw to me. Plus whatever other throwing I would do during the day. Some days, before I stopped pitching, I would pitch BP all day and then pitch at night For a fairly intelligent person I did some stupid things growing up…my parents always told me I was going to wear myself into the ground but I never listened.

 

[radness]

Didn’t help..lol. I would be at the park all day and whoever showed up I would throw to so they would throw to me. Plus whatever other throwing I would do during the day. Some days, before I stopped pitching, I would pitch BP all day and then pitch at night

Understand you even more!

Looking back would you have changed doing that?

 

[_MIA_]

Looking back would you have changed doing that?

No..it was fun

Seriously if I wanted to hit I needed to throw and I loved hitting

My father developed really bad bursitis throwing to me so much when I was younger so he couldn’t throw much as I got older.

 

[radness]

No..it was fun

Seriously if I wanted to hit I needed to throw and I loved hitting

My father developed really bad bursitis throwing to me so much when I was younger so he couldn’t throw much as I got older.

Was going to guess no but didn't want to speak for you

Think that's awesome of you to throw BP!!!
I caught for a lot of BP.

 

[_MIA_]

I was going to guess no but didn't want to speak for you

Think that's awesome of you to throw BP!!!
I caught for a lot of BP.

The only thing I would have changed is not telling anybody about the injury but I think I was afraid of having to sit. Not smart and having a chronically sore arm probably didn’t help with my head issues that caused me to quit in college.

That is enough about me though..I am sure I have pissed off some people on here

 

[Vertigo]

Be careful with interpreting the data in that article - the difference between injury in softball vs baseball is not statistically significant. It is also talking about all positions and not just pitching (although it does break it down further in the article).

 

[Shiloh]

Here's what I had in mind when I wrote softball pitching is safer than baseball pitching:

A 2018 survey of active players found that 26 percent of Major League pitchers and 19 percent of Minor League pitchers had undergone Tommy John surgery at some point in their careers. While the total number of Tommy John surgeries per year in adolescent pitchers is unknown, the rate of increase in the number of Tommy John surgeries each year in players aged 15-19 years has been over 9% per year.

Pitchers are able to return to baseball >70-80% of the time after Tommy John surgery.

(source: mlb.com pitch smart)

Can't think of any type of surgery that ~20% of pro/college softball pitchers have undergone, where the act of pitching necessitates the surgery, where the outcome is good, but not a guarantee, and where the prevalence of the surgery is increasingly common.

 

[radness]

Here is article reasons of Tommy John surgery
Seems reasons equate to specializing early as being pitchers. * which we know people in the past decade have been far more inclined to get instructors at early ages

overuse fatigue and pushing limits. Arm care and health of body.

3 Reasons Why Young Pitchers Are Having Tommy John Surgery

The incidence of Tommy John surgery in the 15 to 19 year-old age group is increasing 9.12% per year. This article reveals 3 reasons why.

www.bsrphysicaltherapy.com

 

[Shawn]

Pattar

I was just pointing out the lag in each.