Shoulder Pain in Non Pitiching Arm

[jinjet95]

My DD hadn't pitched since she was 10 until HS. She has been taking some lessons and her mechanics look pretty good. This week, she started complaining of pain in the front of her left shoulder - she pitches right handed. Has anyone else experienced this? The only thing I can think of is she swims the left arm in her motion. I've seen other topics on here that say this isn't usually an issue. If it continues, we'll have her evaluated by her Ortho, but I wondered if anyone here has experienced this with their pitchers.

 

[Chris O'Leary]

Does she hit righty? Does she finish with one hand on the bat when she swings, like this?

If so, read this...


This is (obviously) bad but relatively common.

 

[chinamigarden]

Is it possible that she injured her left shoulder doing something else, and the pain manifests itself while pitching?

 

[YOCOACH]

I've run across this with my DD. It was a result of a combination of her swing finish pictured above and throwing her glove at the catcher in her pitching motion. I had it evaluated and was told to give her a week off and do light weight training on both shoulders combined with dynamic stretches. Started out with slow paced small windmills and large windmills with a 16 oz heavy ball and have since switched to a pitching aid called The K Factor. It went away as her strength grew and now she uses both as a warm-up before games. However, this may not be the same cause and/or situation for your DD. You should probably have it evaluated and have the Dr. give you his own prognosis and cure.

 

[jinjet95]

Thanks. She bats lefty and doesn't release one hand on the follow through. It's possible she injured it doing some exercises at the gym. Her HS season ended tonight, so she has some time to recover. I was proud of her tonight. She came on in relief, only allowed 1 run in 3 innings and went 3-4 at the plate, including a 3 run triple - all while she was hurting. She has full range of motion, so we allowed her to finish the last game of her freshman season. Hopefully, we'll see improvement with rest.

 

[Larapitch]

My DD also had pain in her left, non-pitching shoulder. We saw a sports medicine doc and was diagnosed with tendonitis of the rotator cuff. She did 6 weeks of physical therapy to increase her strength and flexibility. That was during the summer and no pain since. She does a daily routine of strength training with light weights. Hope all works out well with your DD.

 

[blatour]

my dd had the same pain and after filming her pitch and reviewing it from all angles we found that her glove hand was "swimming " thats what i call it. it was swinging out a bit. we showed her the film and she adjusted and the pain went away. once she was aware of what caused it she now knows what happens and she fixes her glove when she feels it in her shoulder.

 

[Snakehandler]

This happened to my daughter after I baught her a heavier glove to use. She went to a lighter (and cheaper) glove, and the pain went away.

 

[halskinner]

The trapezius muscle can also cause that pain. It goes from the tip of one shoulder to thr other, up to the top of the spine and down the spine to just below the shoulders.

It is big but kind of thin. RH pitcher can throw alot and the throwing side can enflame a little and tighten up. It can pull on the other side and cause some pain in the front of the shoulder.

Along with that, there is usually a little misalignment of the neck vertebrae as the throwing side tightens and the other is more relaxed. Give her a very light massage with the thumb and index and see if you can detect that misalignment, especially where the neck connects to the s[ine.