What are the effects of a PRP shot on a pitching elbow

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DD has a strain and Small partial tear in her UCL ligament from playing SS and throwing overhand. As for now it doesn’t bother her to pitch or hit so she is still playing. Ball hit back to pitcher she just pitches it to 1st. The other team complains saying she is just showing off but it works. She wants to play in 1 more big tournament to finish our season before she gets the shot. Anyway the PRP shot treatment will require 2 weeks in a cast then 4 weeks rehab before touching a ball.
My question is has anyone dealt with this treatment and what should my expectations of recovery be. How much work are we looking at before trying to pitch again should we wait longer before trying to throw. Any 1st hand experiences with advise.
 
Aug 21, 2008
2,359
113
First of all, throwing underhand to first is not "showing off" Anyone who thinks so does not appreciate how hard it is to throw a ball overhand aver throwing 30, 40, 50 pitches underhanded. It's freaking hard to do!!!! A few years ago I remember a UCLA pitcher who struggled mightily with throwing over to 1st. She threw wildly, high, low, etc. It was ugly. And why the opposing teams didn't bunt, and bunt, and bunt on her all game still baffles me. There was almost a literal 50% chance of making first if she fielded the bunt. I never understood why teams didn't do this EVERY inning. But I digress. Make sure your first base knows it's coming underhand and fire away. Nothing cocky or showing off about that. It makes sense.

Second point (can you tell I'm bored on a Friday night?)...... if the season is ending, does she need the shot or will it heal without it? While I don't know her condition, nor am I a medical official (although I am CPR certified) shots usually are done to take away pain for continued playing. Personally, I had numerous shots to rid myself of pain and get me through the last month, nationals or world championship. The shots don't HELP the problem, they just help you get through it without pain and THEN you get it fixed. There might not be a need for a shot if you're shutting things down after one more tournament. Rehab might be the way to go. But I say this without knowing the full deal.
 

radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
7,270
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Platelet replacement
Last year student in a game took a foul ball to glove hand.
Apparently tore thumb ligament.
Had that shot done.
She told me it felt really warm when she got the shot and was a bit tender and puffy. The healing process went quickly. From what I remember it was very successful and she was able to get back to use of her hand in what seemed like less than 2 months. (If I remember correctly.) Her dad telling me about it sounded like it was a valuable procedure. That family the dad was a pro baseball player and the mom a sports trainer for college programs ...
So do think they did their investigation on it before proceeding with choosing that method.

Hope it works out Laphoneman!
 
Last edited:
Mar 13, 2017
50
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DD has a strain and Small partial tear in her UCL ligament from playing SS and throwing overhand. As for now it doesn’t bother her to pitch or hit so she is still playing. Ball hit back to pitcher she just pitches it to 1st. The other team complains saying she is just showing off but it works. She wants to play in 1 more big tournament to finish our season before she gets the shot. Anyway the PRP shot treatment will require 2 weeks in a cast then 4 weeks rehab before touching a ball.
My question is has anyone dealt with this treatment and what should my expectations of recovery be. How much work are we looking at before trying to pitch again should we wait longer before trying to throw. Any 1st hand experiences with advise.
As someone who had Tommy John surgery, I would highly suggest after the shot and heal time that you take a close look at the fundamentals of her throw. If she partially tore it once it will continue to happen unless the underlying issue is fixed.
 
As someone who had Tommy John surgery, I would highly suggest after the shot and heal time that you take a close look at the fundamentals of her throw. If she partially tore it once it will continue to happen unless the underlying issue is fixed.
Yes once it started hurting I started analyzing why and figured out her elbow angle stayed more than 90 but by that time it was to late. So I figure changing her form will be a major point of focus after rehab.
 
First of all, throwing underhand to first is not "showing off" Anyone who thinks so does not appreciate how hard it is to throw a ball overhand aver throwing 30, 40, 50 pitches underhanded. It's freaking hard to do!!!! A few years ago I remember a UCLA pitcher who struggled mightily with throwing over to 1st. She threw wildly, high, low, etc. It was ugly. And why the opposing teams didn't bunt, and bunt, and bunt on her all game still baffles me. There was almost a literal 50% chance of making first if she fielded the bunt. I never understood why teams didn't do this EVERY inning. But I digress. Make sure your first base knows it's coming underhand and fire away. Nothing cocky or showing off about that. It makes sense.

Second point (can you tell I'm bored on a Friday night?)...... if the season is ending, does she need the shot or will it heal without it? While I don't know her condition, nor am I a medical official (although I am CPR certified) shots usually are done to take away pain for continued playing. Personally, I had numerous shots to rid myself of pain and get me through the last month, nationals or world championship. The shots don't HELP the problem, they just help you get through it without pain and THEN you get it fixed. There might not be a need for a shot if you're shutting things down after one more tournament. Rehab might be the way to go. But I say this without knowing the full deal.
She doesn’t complain of pain because she says she knows it will hurt to throw overhand so she refuses to do it. Nothing else she does even gymnastics causes her pain. As far as would it heal on its own the Dr said probably. He said it may take 6 to 12 months for it to heal because there is an actual tear. PRP they take her own blood strip out the platlets and shoot them directly into the ligament which is supposed to cause increased swelling and concentrated healing. It sounds a little like a science fiction movie if you ask me. which is why i‘m asking if anyone has had any first hand exp.
 
Since 1st hand experience is hard to come by I will give updates on DD experience. We went to the surgeon they drew her blood, put it in a machine that seperated the plasma right in front of us. He compared the MRI to the arm deadened the area gave the injection probably 3 injection same location different angles. DD felt very minor pain from the injections. Then he placed her in a cast at about 45 deg for 3 weeks. 30 minutes and we were done. Our insurance would not cover this proceedure the surgeon had a set kit price for entire proceedure including cast was $400.
she got the cast off 3 days ago never experienced any pain just some itching that goes along with having a cast. Once the cast was removed there was minor swelling still in the elbow and the elbow was tight and pretty much stuck at 45deg.
the surgeon said to spend 2 weeks getting her range of motion back then start using weights to gain back desired strength.
he said normal ligament recovery is 5-6 months. But with prp expect 2-3 months. After 3 days she almost has her full range of motion back. My stubborn DD has not missed a practice yet she just fields and drops in a bucket. We are playing the wait and heal game for next couple weeks I will update once weight training has begun.
 
3 weeks out of cast and she has convinced me to let her start working on pitching since that never bothered her anyway. I only let her throw about 25 pitches but she was still throwing 50-51 down from 54 I was expecting to have to work back up I guess her working her legs this whole time has paid off.
I have done more research on recovery time and the average return to throwing is 5 weeks. I hope I can make her wait that long she is so ready to start paying again.
 
May 23, 2015
999
63
UCLs will not heal themselves. You can kinda slide by doing strengthening exercises around the elbow hoping that it will take some of the strain off of it. Pitching is a rough job. I wish her the best
 
Update it’s been roughly 7 months since she got the shot. Before the shot she basically could not throw over hand from pitching rubber to 1st. Since February (5 months post procedure) she has been back to practicing just making sure not to over do it. Now we are in April she only mentions anything about her elbow when a cold snap comes through. Her pitching has increased with lots of work to 57 and she is having no trouble with over hand throws from 3rd which is where she plays when she is not pitching.
 

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