Pitching after shoulder labral tear

[danyabueno77]

What a LONG ordeal this has been.

Summary: Now 1.5 years later, only in the last month has she started to look like her old self.

Now for the details

So she did 4 or so months of PT. They spent less time on the actual shoulder injury, and more time on the whole shoulder. I could not have been any happier with the PT work.

So May rolls around and she starts pitching some with me. PT said 50 pitches a day is the limit. We only threw 3 times a week. We basically worked only on fast and change. Not ideal, but we were trying to rebuild the throwing arm, and none of us wanted any strain from spin pitches. She came out in June throwing as hard as I have ever clocked her (granted I did not clock her in the fall) 59-61 mph in games. She looked great speed wise although her pitching arsenal was smaller. The coach went heavy on screwball calls, which we had not been practicing, And within one tournament, she had aggravated her triceps. That caused issues with the coach knowing what pitches to call - it was a whole ordeal that should not have been an ordeal.

Anyhow, roll around to early August. PT removes restriction. The first tournament, coach pitches her 70 pitches on day 1. She was over 200 pitches in day 2 and suffered an MCL sprain (level 1) on the 207th pitch. She went from 0 to full blast too quickly and had not built up those muscles. We rested the next few weeks before the fall season, but it was still an issue on Labor Day. So she was out 6 more weeks doing PT on that.

All seemed to be going well this spring when she tweaked her knee in April on a hike. Then she tweaked her biceps in June in her first live game since the fall. (we figured out from overhand throwing so she cut that out) So we were back on a limited pitch count all summer. Finally in early July, she was able to pitch 2 games in a day (about 170 pitches and she told the coach that was all. We learned from the previous fall) And then the next weekend, her speed finally came back.

I clocked her at 61 this past weekend. She looked like she did in the fall 2 years ago. She took off her knee brace mid-inning in her last game. First time in a year without a brace.

She still does shoulder and knee pt exercises to keep things strong.

Of course I am a little wary since she has only been all the way healthy for a month now. But I trust her college trainers will be up for the task if she has any issue.

Wow that’s a very long journey! Glad she seems to be doing well now!

 

[Baseball Dad]

So not softball but baseball - my son was diagnosed with a SLAP tear via MRA back in the fall. Never really had a lot of pain, but felt his shoulder “not feel right” while just throwing in the OF. His primary position is pitcher.

His tear is 10 to 2, so superior. After doing a ton of research and discussing it with our orthopod, we opted for PT first to see what would happen. He did about 12 weeks and then progressive throwing. Doc told us that if he pitches and he doesn’t get his velocity back, then he might need to just play the field.

He eased his way back into pitching - pitching coach was extremely conservative with him. PT helped to strengthen the RTC muscles and now he is back to full velocity off the mound. It took about 5 months of rest, PT, then slow progression to throwing but so far, so good. No pain and velocity is back. Doc thinks he may have already had the tear and then something else happened to cause the pain. If you research SLAP tears, many times this is the case.

If you don’t mind me asking, where is her pain? I wish you all the best and hopefully no surgery will be needed. Just make sure you do a lot of research, find a good orthopod that specializes in shoulders/sports injuries, and find a great PT!!!

I just read your post about your son. I know it's been over 2 years but was curious how he is doing.

Is he still pitching without any issues?

Thank You

 

[Vertigo]

I just read your post about your son. I know it's been over 2 years but was curious how he is doing.

Is he still pitching without any issues?

Thank You

Hi! Thank you so much for asking!

My ds is doing very well now - no longer has issues with his shoulder and had a phenomenal summer pitching in TB.

Best thing he did was take last fall and this fall off from playing and just focused on strength training. He is now just starting up a velocity program with his PC for the winter.

He was recruited to play D3 college ball next year - was recruited to play CF with also knowing he might get called upon to pitch a few innings here and there according to the coach. He will most likely be one of the starting pitchers for his HS team this spring.

We were very lucky he was able to bounce back the way he did.