What every little leaguer can learn from professional pitchers

I often see youth baseball players with elbow and shoulder injuries due to overuse. Most often these are minor issues that resolve with rest, but in some cases they can be serious injuries with life long consequences. Typically, these injuries are caused by repetitive injury and inadequate rest. Many youth baseball players are throwing all year long which doesn’t allow any time to heal and recover after a season.

Youth baseball players love to emulate pros. They mimic their throwing motions and swings. They wear their socks and hats like their favorite big leaguer. The one thing that little leaguers don’t seem to do like pros is rest at the end of the season.

I interact with many professional pitchers at the minor league level and 90% of them “shut it down” at the end of the season. They typically take a period of rest of about eight weeks of no throwing at the end of the season. I wish we could get kids to do the same thing.

Author

Brad Carofino, MD Dr. Brad Carofino is a board-certified (American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery), fellowship-trained orthopaedic surgeon who specializes in shoulder & upper extremity surgery. Dr. Carofino is an expert in shoulder replacement surgery, minimally invasive arthroscopic rotator cuff repair, and complex reconstructive procedures of the upper extremity.