Pitching and Catching same practice glove side injury?

[Lreeve]

My daughter pitches and catches. Catching has always been her main position but her pitching has taken off this year. Due to the fact that we are usually short on catchers for practices, she will often catch for an hour and then pitch at the end of practice for about 20 minutes. This week she started complaining about glove side shoulder pain by her shoulder blade. We did icy hot and massage but didn't take it too seriously. She went to practice tonight and didn't even make it through warm ups and sat out the rest of practice. She is a kid who never complains and I have to force to tell if she is hurt. Could this pain be caused from over use from catching and pitching back to back? She is used to catching and pitching in tournaments but she usually has some time in between games. Odd that is glove side and not throwing side??? This is obviously terrible timing as spring season is beginning and she has a stacked schedule.

 

[Gags]

While catching for an hour in practice does seem excessive (to me, at least), I agree it’s unusual to hear of pain in the non-throwing shoulder.

What age is your daughter? Is she using a new, heavier glove? Has she started using heavy or plyo balls as part of a workout or warmup?

Glad she spoke up and said something - anything shoulder-related usually gets my attention, as it’s much more common to hear of something like sore legs than a sore non-throwing shoulder.


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[Lreeve]

She just turned 12. I can't really think of anything different that she is doing. She did say she is playing wiffle ball every day in PE. I warned her not to throw them too hard because the light weight might make her over throw, but that still doesn't explain why the pain is in the glove and not throwing arm? She said her neck also feels very stiff.

 

[RADcatcher]

My daughter pitches and catches. Catching has always been her main position but her pitching has taken off this year. Due to the fact that we are usually short on catchers for practices, she will often catch for an hour and then pitch at the end of practice for about 20 minutes. This week she started complaining about glove side shoulder pain by her shoulder blade. We did icy hot and massage but didn't take it too seriously. She went to practice tonight and didn't even make it through warm ups and sat out the rest of practice. She is a kid who never complains and I have to force to tell if she is hurt. Could this pain be caused from over use from catching and pitching back to back? She is used to catching and pitching in tournaments but she usually has some time in between games. Odd that is glove side and not throwing side??? This is obviously terrible timing as spring season is beginning and she has a stacked schedule.

Certain muscles getting overworked and then the strain of other muscles pulling on those muscles can create that type of pain injury.

It can happen that somebody might say oh I'm having pain doing this. But yet it is a complication that was made by doing something else. With the repeated use of both pitching and catching and possibly hitting and anything else the injury stands out.

Along with those things how you are sleeping or sitting or carrying a book bag can also be part of the Dilemma. Things like carrying a phone around can create problems also. Those everyday things that you don't realize accumulate can cause strain.

 

[RADcatcher]

The problem with overdoing things is commonly a person doesn't find out they have overdone it until they feel the pain from overdoing it.
Plan accordingly!

 

[Lreeve]

Certain muscles getting overworked and then the strain of other muscles pulling on those muscles can create that type of pain injury.

It can happen that somebody might say oh I'm having pain doing this. But yet it is a complication that was made by doing something else. With the repeated use of both pitching and catching and possibly hitting and anything else the injury stands out.

Along with those things how you are sleeping or sitting or carrying a book bag can also be part of the Dilemma. Things like carrying a phone around can create problems also. Those everyday things that you don't realize accumulate can cause strain.

Her backpack is very heavy. They have to carry a big Chromebook back and forth everyday for school. I carried her bag for her yesterday and was shocked how heavy it was. We have a massage gun so I am going to see if she just has extreme tension built up. She pitched Monday and was a little off, but didn't have any big red flags.

 

[uncdrew]

Just my opinion but...

I'd shut her down immediately.

My DD is a bit injury prone, and also the type who will keep it to herself and play through pain and discomfort. And when she does, it has always resulted in longer recovery and/or making the injury worse.

We have learned (at the ripe old age of 14) a few things:

1. Stop if/when anything hurts
2. Go to doctors
3. Do what doctors say
4. Stretch, then stretch some more. Before practice, after practice. Every day for us, due to our situation.

No game, tournament, event is worth further injury. It'll suck to miss things, but you gotta be healthy. Getting back to healthy is expedited by stopping and healing. You don't want this injury to linger and affect her and potentially get worse. If you stop now, she might feel better in a few days. If you push it, it might get worse or never get better.


And while I applaud your DD for taking on pitching and catching, you probably know that's not feasible long term. Never say never, but... to become elite at either of those takes more time/effort/lessons/work than most girls will ever put into to it. To do that for both positions is perhaps impossible. She's nearing the age where you might want to pick one and excel in it.

 

[Tango]

DD was diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome at around 12. Under Purple Hand post. It was her glove hand. She is a senior now and when sore normally on her glove side shoulder blade area. I think some of it is genetic and some probably because how much force she uses on her glove hand/arm side. She doesn’t necessarily swim the arm but very violent with the glove side.

 

[Lreeve]

Just my opinion but...

I'd shut her down immediately.

My DD is a bit injury prone, and also the type who will keep it to herself and play through pain and discomfort. And when she does, it has always resulted in longer recovery and/or making the injury worse.

We have learned (at the ripe old age of 14) a few things:

1. Stop if/when anything hurts
2. Go to doctors
3. Do what doctors say
4. Stretch, then stretch some more. Before practice, after practice. Every day for us, due to our situation.

No game, tournament, event is worth further injury. It'll suck to miss things, but you gotta be healthy. Getting back to healthy is expedited by stopping and healing. You don't want this injury to linger and affect her and potentially get worse. If you stop now, she might feel better in a few days. If you push it, it might get worse or never get better.


And while I applaud your DD for taking on pitching and catching, you probably know that's not feasible long term. Never say never, but... to become elite at either of those takes more time/effort/lessons/work than most girls will ever put into to it. To do that for both positions is perhaps impossible. She's nearing the age where you might want to pick one and excel in it.

I agree about choosing a position. She always just wanted to catch but is becoming a good pitcher. Being left handed also makes pitching more long term for her. She is often the workhorse of her teams so transitioning to taking care of her body is new for her.

 

[mmeece]

Keep in mind that for a pitcher the glove side shoulder does almost the same thing as the pitching shoulder. My daughter had to have repair/reconstruction on her glove side shoulder, and we had another good friend who did as well. Hopefully it's nothing anywhere near that serious, but don't treat it any less seriously because it's not the pitching arm.