- May 27, 2013
- 2,387
- 113
Long read ahead:
The problem with tendinitis is that it typically takes a long time to heal - usually about 3-6 mos. Most athletes do not or feel they cannot take that much time away from their sport, especially in HS, so it becomes a chronic issue that keeps rearing its ugly head.
DD experienced it in her pitching shoulder right in the middle of the fall TB season her junior year. She went to throw a ball overhand and that’s what really hurt badly. After that she constantly felt something didn’t feel right in that shoulder/scapula area while pitching. I truly feel it was from overuse as a pitcher from 12U-14U where she threw a high number of innings while also growing several inches at a crazy rate. She would complain of discomfort but then after not throwing for 1-2 days it would go away, so I just assumed it was sore from a long weekend (bad parent moment).
I shut her down and she had an MRI which showed nothing torn, but tendinitis and bursitis. She did 3 mos of PT and I hate to say this but Covid hit and that’s when HS SB was shut down. It was probably what helped the most - not throwing all those innings her junior season. The following fall/winter she did a lot of strength training and did several focused massage therapy sessions to get her ready for her senior year HS season.
Senior year of HS she was the only pitcher on her team. Several games became squeezed into the same week as there were several cancellations due to Covid. Towards the end of that season she began to feel it again but at least this time she knew what exercises to do to help before and after games and she pitched less during her TB season. The massage sessions continued and truly helped.
So far in college it hasn’t been too bad. She’ll feel it most when they pull her in a game and then put her back in several innings later (she plays in a cold weather state which does not help); or if she pitches in back to back double-headers. She has a thin build and has always had lax joints so I feel this compounds the issue. Luckily now, she will go to the trainers after a game to get some PT.
The issue is there just has not been enough studies done on softball pitchers and injuries. It’s been ignored as most believed the underhand motion was much easier on the shoulder, and probably because SB pretty much ends at the college level. When you have a sport that is “America’s Favorite Pastime” and an athlete can potentially make millions of dollars, of course there will be study after study done because of the sheer number of players and popularity of the sport. Softball just isn’t there yet so there is no driving force to do the studies.
ETA: If any of your DD’s are sports med majors it might be a great topic to do research on. If they are a Master’s or PhD student in some type of related field they could seek a grant to actually perform the research on this very topic.
The problem with tendinitis is that it typically takes a long time to heal - usually about 3-6 mos. Most athletes do not or feel they cannot take that much time away from their sport, especially in HS, so it becomes a chronic issue that keeps rearing its ugly head.
DD experienced it in her pitching shoulder right in the middle of the fall TB season her junior year. She went to throw a ball overhand and that’s what really hurt badly. After that she constantly felt something didn’t feel right in that shoulder/scapula area while pitching. I truly feel it was from overuse as a pitcher from 12U-14U where she threw a high number of innings while also growing several inches at a crazy rate. She would complain of discomfort but then after not throwing for 1-2 days it would go away, so I just assumed it was sore from a long weekend (bad parent moment).
I shut her down and she had an MRI which showed nothing torn, but tendinitis and bursitis. She did 3 mos of PT and I hate to say this but Covid hit and that’s when HS SB was shut down. It was probably what helped the most - not throwing all those innings her junior season. The following fall/winter she did a lot of strength training and did several focused massage therapy sessions to get her ready for her senior year HS season.
Senior year of HS she was the only pitcher on her team. Several games became squeezed into the same week as there were several cancellations due to Covid. Towards the end of that season she began to feel it again but at least this time she knew what exercises to do to help before and after games and she pitched less during her TB season. The massage sessions continued and truly helped.
So far in college it hasn’t been too bad. She’ll feel it most when they pull her in a game and then put her back in several innings later (she plays in a cold weather state which does not help); or if she pitches in back to back double-headers. She has a thin build and has always had lax joints so I feel this compounds the issue. Luckily now, she will go to the trainers after a game to get some PT.
The issue is there just has not been enough studies done on softball pitchers and injuries. It’s been ignored as most believed the underhand motion was much easier on the shoulder, and probably because SB pretty much ends at the college level. When you have a sport that is “America’s Favorite Pastime” and an athlete can potentially make millions of dollars, of course there will be study after study done because of the sheer number of players and popularity of the sport. Softball just isn’t there yet so there is no driving force to do the studies.
ETA: If any of your DD’s are sports med majors it might be a great topic to do research on. If they are a Master’s or PhD student in some type of related field they could seek a grant to actually perform the research on this very topic.
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