9 year old Cy Young Award Winner…

“If you want your kid to pitch in the major leagues, tell him to play first base”, quoted from the MLB doctors, physical therapists, and athletic trainers conference.

As you can probably tell from the title, I’m a little sarcastic at this point of the discussion already. But honestly, lets just get it out there to start with, there are no 9 year olds in the major leagues! That being the case, why are we (collectively) encouraging 9 year olds to pitch on a little league team, a travel ball team, and get pitching lessons like pros do?

There are very few things that actually get to me, when I treat patients, but this I have to say is definitely one of them. Every time a little kid comes into my office with a shoulder or elbow injury related to pitching, it just tugs at me because, every single one of those injuries could have been prevented. Currently, the American College of Sports Medicine reports that 6 of 10 little league pitchers will sustain an elbow or shoulder injury directly related to throwing in their youths. Really, do you realize what that means? 60% of all kid pitchers will have elbow or shoulder injuries! That is a terrible number, and I have to tell you that all of those could be prevented with some coach/parent education, mechanical improvements, better pitch count regulation, and simple common sense.

Lets keep a few things in mind as I work through this; 1. These kids have immature skeletons, so when they get hurt they injure bones & growth plates, not muscles & tendons like adult pitchers, 2. Kids are only going to throw as many times as parents & coaches will let them, 3. All of the pitches count (warm up, game, practice, all teams, and pitching coaches)

So here is how we can prevent ALL of these injuries:

1. Lets use pitching machines in all little league games until the age of 15, (I know its drastic)
2. Learn proper pitching mechanics, like using your legs, hips, and core as taught by a biomechanist not a “pitching coach”
3. Get a great warm up routine and do it
4. Pitch less
5. Do specific shoulder, back, core, leg exercises
6. If something hurts, STOP RIGHT AWAY and get it treated (no its no supposed to hurt at all after you throw, anywhere!)
7. Pitch less
8. Play first base…

I’ll leave you with another quote by a very famous orthopedic doctor to most professional athletes: “there will be no major league pitchers from any warm weather states in the next 10 years”. Think about that one for a bit…