Common Baseball/Softball Injuries and How to Prevent Them
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Health Tip of the Week With longer days and warmer weather creeping in, another baseball and softball season is underway for many young athletes.
As spring training gets rolling, one thing most young athletes are NOT thinking about is injuries – and how best to avoid them. Edward D. Re, MD, a pediatric sports medicine specialist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and previous team doctor for West Chester University and Penn Charter High School in Philadelphia, shares his insight on ways players can stay healthy throughout the season and what to do if an injury occurs.
Baseball and softball are generally not considered contact sports – unlike football and rugby, for example – yet injuries still happen. The most common injuries include:
There are three primary causes of overuse injuries in youth ball players:
“Fatigue is a major cause of injuries among youth athletes,” Dr. Re says. “It can be caused by many factors – extended play time, playing year-round, playing on multiple teams, extended stress situations, and even things like not getting enough sleep or having a poor diet.”
While most youth players are reluctant to slow down even when their bodies need it, parents and coaches can step in if they see a player is fatigued and are at greater risk of injury. Some signs of player fatigue include slower reaction time, complaints of soreness or stiffness, decreased performance, and loss of interest.
Pitchers are at particularly high risk of injury from fatigue. Most youth sports leagues have pitch limits in place to restrict the number of pitches thrown in a game. But it’s equally important to track pitch counts over multiple days, in practice and game situations, and to insist that players take rest periods.
Signs of fatigue pitchers often demonstrate include:
To help reduce your child’s risk of injury while playing baseball or softball:
No matter how hard your child tries to prevent injuries, sometimes they do still occur. It is important for all injured youth athletes to be evaluated and treated by pediatric experts who understand the injury involved and can determine the best treatment approach for a still-growing youth with open growth plates.
To speed recovery, Dr. Re suggests families utilize these non-invasive treatments:
In rare cases, youth with baseball or softball injuries will require surgery. The most common procedures performed by pediatric orthopaedic surgeons at CHOP related to youth baseball/softball injuries include:
Edward D. Re, MD, is a pediatric sports medicine specialist in the Division of Orthopaedics and the Sports Medicine and Performance Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and has served as team doctor for West Chester University and Penn Charter High School in Philadelphia.
Contributed by: Edward D. Re, MD
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