An in-depth study published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine found that many youth baseball players are being encouraged to play through arm discomfort.
Lead author Christopher S. Ahmad, MD, said the increase in youth baseball injuries is likely tied to overuse while the body is still developing.
“Both nationally and internationally, we’re witnessing a troubling increase of elbow and shoulder injuries in young baseball players,” said Dr. Ahmad, MD. “The likely explanation is that they’re throwing too much, too early, putting increasing demands on their bodies that their bodies are not ready for.
Dr. Ahmad added that the increase is concerning, especially since youth leagues have instituted regulations to prevent kids from pitching too often.
“Despite current guidelines and precautions—for example, limiting pitch counts and emphasizing off-season rest—many players are still sustaining overuse injury to their throwing arm,” said Dr. Ahmad. “Thus, it’s vital that we develop better ways for coaches, parents, and clinicians to identify players at risk so we can prevent irreversible injury and season-ending surgery.”
Study Insights
As part of their data collection, researchers asked 203 youth baseball players to report whether they “always,” “often,” “sometimes,” or “rarely” experienced arm pain when throwing.
After looking at the survey results, researchers uncovered:
- 74 percent of players said they have experienced arm pain while throwing. Only 26 percent said they never experienced arm pain.
- 80 percent reported pain the day after pitching.
- 82 percent reported “arm fatigue” during a game or practice.
- 75 percent said arm pain prevented them from throwing the ball faster.
- 54 percent said arm pain limited the number of innings they could pitch.
As you can see by the statistics, pitchers are especially susceptible to arm fatigue.
“These pitchers likely represent one of the higher-risk groups for incurring a future overuse injury and thus warrant particularly high monitoring,” said Dr. Ahmad.
Dr. Ahmad concluded by saying that nearly half of all baseball players have been encouraged to play through the pain, which he likened to concussion protocols in amateur and professional football not too long ago.
“It’s alarming that so many young baseball players are encouraged to play with pain,” said Dr. Ahmad. “Years ago, prior to concussion protocols, we observed something similar in football, where players who suffered a concussion were routinely sent back into the game after ‘recovering’ for a few minutes. The initial concussion lowered the threshold for another concussion, and the repeated concussions put the player at risk for permanent damage. I think we’re seeing a similar problem in baseball, where playing with arm pain is setting the stage for more serious injury. We need to come up with more individualized throwing programs and better ways to detect which players are at risk for injury.”
Dr. Silverman comments
Clearly there are some players who have abnormal biomechanics. Proper throwing should make your arms sore but not painful. Soreness is your body’s way of regenerating and building muscle and strength, while pain is a sign that something is mechanically wrong.
As in most athletic activity, improper technique leads to injury. The key is to improve player monitoring and techniques. Many youth coaches are the players’ parents, meaning they might not be the most qualified to teach the proper fundamentals or recognize injuries. Also, pitchers are throwing curveballs at earlier ages, which puts unnatural stress on developing joints. We need to take a step back and realize there’s more to a player’s development than winning a tournament by overthrowing as a 9-year-old.
Related source: AJSM
