Questions to Parents of Pitchers with over use injuries

[DonnieS]

There is no sliding in slow-pitch!!
Oh sorry, you said competitive, I was talking about the coed beer league. Anyone who slides gets a thorough ribbing from both teams.

Yes there is. Last time I played, a few years back, I tripped going around 3rd, fell and slid about half way home, the catcher started laughing, dropped the ball and I crawled the rest of the way home, before he found the ball.

Or did you mean intentional sliding?

[GIMNEPIWO]

I didn't go to baseball. I found a group of women playing competitive slow-pitch and they travel. We are going to the senior olympics next month, in Phoenix.

Baseball would have been a disaster. I had to realize that I can't even keep up with my 20 YO DD, let alone men of any age.

These women are 55-69 and I am the baby of the group. Believe it or not there is an older group, that is 70-85.

Slow pitch is very much different that FP and I don't know the rules, yet. I just take my RT and wail away at the ball.

I prefer to ice, but Hubby gives me the evil eye, if he see that - so, I went to a massage therapist and had her stretch me out.

I am wondering in slow-pitch, why no one wears knee pads or sliders? I guess that I can, but these old ladies are in shorts and cleats and seem to be looking for trouble. Oh, and no stretching. They throw the ball about 15 times and are good to go. Yikes.

It's been 2 years since I played ( that's where I ucked fup my hip from playing with a torn hammie on the other side ) ... but I wore blue elastic knee braces ... they are not bulky at all ... I never wore sliders because I'm a head first guy ...

[Sam]

I have a 16 yr old dd that has only been pitching 4 years but has excelled, she did get tendinitis last year before the summer season and the regular doc said no pitching 3 months. She was devistated, a close friend recommended a accupuncturist, I said why not? she pitched the day of her treatment (on the accupuncturist advise) and has been pain free since. Would not have believed it if it had not happened to her. She never iceses, said it hurts more to ice than not icing. We have forced her to at times but it is a battle.
So, this is my first post after a long time reading (and enjoying), how do I do a spell check because I will get called out on all my misspellings?

I've found that a voodoo priestess slinging a dead chicken over my DD's head worked better than the acupuncturist on her overuse injuries.

[SoftballG]

Funny Sam

[Softballer15]

Hey, if it works I'm going to give it a try and this worked, taking a summer off would have been terrible and she was in tears. The guy was a 60 year old Chinese man and I pnly understood about 1/2 of what he said but her tendinitis is gone, has not been back. One of our other pitchers is not so lucky been fighting the pain for over a year and dad won't take to this Chinese guy, so she is not able to pitch this year, sad, she is good.

How about the icing, do any of your daughters complain it hurts more to ice than not to ice? We have this discussion all the time. She does ice after a long day and a fight. Not during the icing but after, hard to move arm. She is rarely sore after a day of pitching, games or practice.

[Sam]

Hey, if it works I'm going to give it a try and this worked, taking a summer off would have been terrible and she was in tears. The guy was a 60 year old Chinese man and I pnly understood about 1/2 of what he said but her tendinitis is gone, has not been back. One of our other pitchers is not so lucky been fighting the pain for over a year and dad won't take to this Chinese guy, so she is not able to pitch this year, sad, she is good.

How about the icing, do any of your daughters complain it hurts more to ice than not to ice? We have this discussion all the time. She does ice after a long day and a fight. Not during the icing but after, hard to move arm. She is rarely sore after a day of pitching, games or practice.

This kid may be better off in the long run. Acupuncture will, at best, mask the symptoms of the overuse injury. Rest works. Continuing to use a joint or muscle that is telling you, through pain, that it is overused serves only to exascerbate the injury. All of them can continue to throw if you give them morphine...their injuries will still be there....but they just won't be able to feel it.

[Softballer15]

Sam,

I think in a way we are lucky that my daughter did not start pitching until she was 13, not really pitching hard till her freshman year, the other girls were pitching since 9, maybe we avoided some of those injuries. I watch her for overuse, her coach does rotate pitchers during the summer season. I regretted not getting her started in TB until she was older but now not so sure it was not the right thing. She does have genetics on her side, big, strong girl that was able to pick up pitching quickly. Thanks for your insight, I read your stuff a lot and agree with most of it.

[DonnieS]

Thats what I understood about acupuncture, that it is for numbing out chronic pain items. A friends daughter has osgood schlatters disease, the pita problem kids get with the calcium bump or whatever on their knee. Doesnt go away, doesnt do long term damage, just hurts until the kid out grows it and the acupuncture some how knocks out the pain. He took his kid, my second baseman, to a acupuncture practictioner and they were pleased with the results.

For overuse injuries, prevention is the big gorilla here and lets hope we learn enough to accomplish it. The tough thing for a lot of us is when your little sweet face kid is 7 - 8 years old and people start noticing that she might have some talent, you typically dont know enough in those early years to protect her.

Mine has pitched her first varsity games the last several days and seems to be setting new records on hbp numbers as well as fielding errors - something I have never seen ever from her. She had 3 fielding/brain-fart errors in the first inning, the starting pitcher gets hurt in the 2nd, she goes in, and hits 2 of the next 5 batters, fortunately the other 3 were K's. Her team won, they were scrimmages, so I guess we won. But I think she has 2 hbp in the last couple of years, then 2 in one inning. My guess is its nervousness or excitement, but I have never seen it before with her. She has played against much higher competition many times without ever blinking an eye, though here there are tons of people at the games that she knows, quien sabe.

[weekend4trvl]

A) with ages, how often did you practice
b) with ages, how long did you practice each day - warmup pitches?
c) with ages, how often did you go to instructions (usually kids pitch longer those days)
d) with ages, did you ice after practices, instructions, games, etc.
e) with ages, how much game time, estimate of pitch counts, innings, if by game, what kind of game, innings, time, etc.
f) with ages, how often did you play (2 weekends per month, 4 per month, etc)
g) with ages, did you have a time off each year
h) did your kid do other sports - which ?
i) outside softball/pitching, what kind of workout regimen if any?

A) Since 2nd year 8U, every day
B) At 8U the pitch count per day was about 50. At 10 we went to about 100 per day. Now (15) we try to get about 150 per day. This is a count of proper pitches. There were stretches, and short snaps to get things warmed up that weren't counted.
C) Pitching coach very early on. This was once per week.
D) Ice, ice, ice. Frequently and consistently.
E) Lots 'o innings. Lots 'o games. Most games pitch count has been about 85 or so.
F) With 12 and 14 at least four games a week. Now with 18G it's a bit less intense for the time being. Should ramp up with summer.
G) No time off. For example, after 14U Nats last year we drove MoHo from Texas to home and rested a day. The next day she wanted to pitch. This is her call, not mine and I want to emphasize that. This kid absolutely loves the game and that's all there is to it.
H) Bear hunting with a bow.
I) Core strengthening, leg strenthening. Tons of situps, calf extensions, squats, leaps, jumprope, medicine ball assisted situps and torso twists, rowing machine, spring grip, weighted wrist-roll.

Am I the only one that's thinking "kinda creepy"

[Sam]

A) with ages, how often did you practice
b) with ages, how long did you practice each day - warmup pitches?
c) with ages, how often did you go to instructions (usually kids pitch longer those days)
d) with ages, did you ice after practices, instructions, games, etc.
e) with ages, how much game time, estimate of pitch counts, innings, if by game, what kind of game, innings, time, etc.
f) with ages, how often did you play (2 weekends per month, 4 per month, etc)
g) with ages, did you have a time off each year
h) did your kid do other sports - which ?
i) outside softball/pitching, what kind of workout regimen if any?

A) Since 2nd year 8U, every day
B) At 8U the pitch count per day was about 50. At 10 we went to about 100 per day. Now (15) we try to get about 150 per day. This is a count of proper pitches. There were stretches, and short snaps to get things warmed up that weren't counted.
C) Pitching coach very early on. This was once per week.
D) Ice, ice, ice. Frequently and consistently.
E) Lots 'o innings. Lots 'o games. Most games pitch count has been about 85 or so.
F) With 12 and 14 at least four games a week. Now with 18G it's a bit less intense for the time being. Should ramp up with summer.
G) No time off. For example, after 14U Nats last year we drove MoHo from Texas to home and rested a day. The next day she wanted to pitch. This is her call, not mine and I want to emphasize that. This kid absolutely loves the game and that's all there is to it.
H) Bear hunting with a bow.
I) Core strengthening, leg strenthening. Tons of situps, calf extensions, squats, leaps, jumprope, medicine ball assisted situps and torso twists, rowing machine, spring grip, weighted wrist-roll.

Am I the only one that's thinking "kinda creepy"

I just didn't believe very much of it...