Annual Kids' Arms Being Overused

[Chin Diesel]

We all see one of these articles at least once a year and yet parents still put their children in high risk positions to injure their arms.

Anecdotally I've heard about parents hoping their kids need Tommy John or similar surgeries while they're in their teens because the reconstructed arm is more sound than the natural arm. And stem cell have a lot to with the reconstruction.

http://www.pnj.com/article/20130625...pitching-injuries-rising-study-blames-overuse


This three-year national study of more than 750 pitchers, ages 9-18, identified several factors contributing to the problem, according to study leader Dr. Joseph Guettler, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist with the Beaumont Health System in Royal Oak, Mich.

"It became very clear that dangerous pitching behavior is occurring among pitchers as young as Little League all the way through their high school years. And, the blame doesn't usually lie with the leagues or coaches. Most were found to be adhering to nationally recognized guidelines for pitch limits and rest. It seems much of the blame lies with behavior of parents and their kids," Guettler said in a health system news release.

 

[Danzz]

We all see one of these articles at least once a year and yet parents still put their children in high risk positions to injure their arms.

Anecdotally I've heard about parents hoping their kids need Tommy John or similar surgeries while they're in their teens because the reconstructed arm is more sound than the natural arm. And stem cell have a lot to with the reconstruction.

http://www.pnj.com/article/20130625...pitching-injuries-rising-study-blames-overuse


This three-year national study of more than 750 pitchers, ages 9-18, identified several factors contributing to the problem, according to study leader Dr. Joseph Guettler, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist with the Beaumont Health System in Royal Oak, Mich.

"It became very clear that dangerous pitching behavior is occurring among pitchers as young as Little League all the way through their high school years. And, the blame doesn't usually lie with the leagues or coaches. Most were found to be adhering to nationally recognized guidelines for pitch limits and rest. It seems much of the blame lies with behavior of parents and their kids," Guettler said in a health system news release.

The old Little League rule was 6 innings per week beginning on Sunday and I believe the Babe Ruth rule was 9 innings per week. In 8 years of coaching I never saw 1 kid hurt their arm. Coaches have to be cautious and pull a pitcher if he has soreness. It really is simple logic.The current Little League pitching rule is more limiting.
I think a bigger danger is the bats these kids are using, they are absolutely ridiculous. The ball is on these kids way too fast. Some pitcher is going to get seriously injured or even killed. If I were coaching Little League today (especially all stars) I'd make my pitcher wear a helmet with a mask. I saw one kid hit a ball about 330 Ft. in a district all star game. Turn that hit into a line drive at the pitcher's head and we probably have a dead pitcher.

 

[mauconnfan]

In my humble opinion it has little to do with innings and all to do with throwing anything but fastballs at a young age..........Kids who play baseball and love baseball will be throwing every day anyhow, usually as hard as they want from some other position. But they will always throw it overhand and hard which is natural, when playing anywhere else in the field. But those damn curve balls should not be thrown until the arm strength is built and the arm is mature. I fell prey to it for sure, never needed a doctor to figure it out just ended my pitching career young. Threw a deuce from 10 years old on as well as a good fastball.....all the way up to what was then Pony League and Intermediate Leagues in Meriden where at the ages of 13 and 14 I would sometimes throw 14 innings in one day....yep play at Washington Park in Pony League in the afternoon and a night game at Ceppa Field in the Intermediate League for 7 more.........unbeaten through LL and lost very few few through the age of 15 then DEAD.......lost velocity in an inning or 2 and the curve ball was no longer anything but a hanger because I couldn't produce any rotation........why? I never figured it out because I just played 3rd base through Legion (threw a couple 1-2 inning relief spots to save rotation arms but I was "pitching" not throwing) and all the twi-light leagues I played until 30.......I could throw a pea when needed to first from 3rd but if I fooled around on the mound after 10 throws in a row it was noticeable I had 10-15 mph taken off, just dead, no pain just nothing there. I went from a hard throwing LLer with a deuce which really worked to the same while 13-14 and HS coach dying to get me on the squad to a kid who better be able to beat everyone out at 3rd if I wanted to play.

My brother and I swear it just had to be way too many curve balls at a way too young age to do so. No other reason to have that promise die in the wind.........again funny thing is never got a sore arm, just a little after the 14 inning nights when I probably threw 50-75 curve balls int those days!!

Curve balls, knuckle curves, sliders anything like that at a young age and too many of them are what ruins kids I think.......just throwing it hard and overhand is baseball whether you're playing with friends or throwing a few innings a week in LL, will never hurt.

 

[zyron]

Nothing like what they do in Japan:

This week at Koshien, the twice-a-year national high school baseball tournament that is to Japan what the World Series is to American baseball fans, a 16-year-old boy named Tomohiro Anraku threw 772 pitches. During the final game Wednesday, Anraku, whose fastball reached 94 mph earlier in the tournament, labored to crack 80. It was his third consecutive day starting a game and his fourth in five days, and those came after his first start of the tournament, in which he threw 232 pitches over 13 innings.

 

[mauconnfan]

Nothing like what they do in Japan:

Wow maybe DiceK was actually good at one time!!