NEED HELP!! DD has a strange Injury, Ever heard or been witness to this?

[Fairman]

My dd was trying out for a national showcase team. The coach had her throw only fastballs for an hour and a half, then had her throw her breaking stuff for half an hour and then an hour later put her in a game for three innings. She was dancing with 60 before that weekend. She dropped back to the low-fifties the following week. She is four seasons removed from that event and is just now flirting with 60 as a junior in college.

I'm thankful that this star coach didn't hurt her anymore than he did. I should have stepped in, packed her up and went home but I thought this is what was expected of a first line D-1 prospect pitcher. One weekend, one tryout and she was no longer had a chance to throw hard enough to catch on with a major D-1 program. I just didn't know it at the time.

(She now has a RPS above 26, her breaking stuff is moving, she is getting a great education and having fun with softball, it all worked out)

 

[dawgpound19]

Going through the same thing with my 14 year old DD, we've been to a sports orthopedic surgeon who specializes in shoulder and arm problems. She has been pitching since she was 8 and she started to complain of her shoulder hurting during fall practices and a couple of tournaments we were in. I took her to the orthopedic doctor and he diagnosed her with GIRD which is more common in baseball players but it's where the exterior rotation and the interior rotation of the shoulder is not right and it causes the shoulder to essentially develop to grow and form out of place. He diagnosed no softball or overhand throwing or sports and physical therapy. We believe that this happened during volleyball season with all of the overhand serving that she was doing. We went through 6 weeks of physical therapy and no softball just went back to the orthopedic doctor and her exterior and interior rotation has improved and the strength in her shoulder is better but she is still in a lot of pain.

She has a MRIgram tomorrow where they are going to do a MRI then inject a dye in her shoulder and do another MRI to see the contrast to see what is wrong, it could be a torn labrum, rotator cuff, etc. I'm afraid it could be the labrum and she is scared to death but I just told her it is what it is and it's better to get it fixed now than trying to push through the pain. If the MRI comes back clean then we'll do more rest and more PT.

She has experienced a lot of the same symptoms that your daughter has, pain in the shoulder, soreness, etc. Wish you the best of luck with your daughter and hopefully she has a quick and safe return to health.

 

[LADY lOOKOUTS]

Check to see if numbness or tingling is involved? discoloration of arm? when arm is raised does it feel as if it dead? Does she have an extra cervical rib? Does pain radiate? if pitches are taught correctly pitchers should feel no pain. Certain pitches have proper finishes where shoulder is involved, but is part of the follow thru. Keeping the arm tight is key. I had an extra cervical rib as well as sublexing clavicals ( i was born this way) While pitching Div 1 in college I started to have a lot of pain. medicines as well as cortizone were used to help control pain. It was just a mask for me to be able to pitch.. I was finally diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome which required surgery. all the symptoms I mentioned above were the symptoms I had for about 3 years. It is important to check those symptoms if not treated you can get blood clots that will go straight to the brain. Thoracic Outlet is where the brachial plexis is under the arm pit, its get pinched in the shoulder and clavicals, causing lack of blood flow to your arm. when i was diagnosed, i was only getting 5% blood flow to my arm.. there are other well known pitchers who have suffered this pain. if surgery is required, went in thru my arm pit, removing my extra cervical rib. i had to re learn how to use my fingers, wrist and hand. many muscles and nerves were cut. If treated early, which is why I have explained in detail, you can avoid this painful surgery

 

[mstat00]

14 yo DD had very similar symptoms last yr, orthopedic diagnosed it as
( snapping scapula syndrome) Google it?
This is usually seen in male BB player, "overhand throwing"
Long story short 12 wks of PT, and limiting,pitching and throwing to a minimum, she has been good!
Also sound like it could be a labrum issue as well , insist on an MRI!!!
Good luck., and I hope she is pain free soon!!!!

 

[CARDS]

Until you find out what is the issue I would shut her down. You need to think about the players life after sports and that for most playing stops after high school. If the injury is from overuse and not an impact injury some rest and PT may be all you need.

In SW Ohio we are blessed to have Beacon Orthopedics with some of the top sports related injury physicians in the country. If you do not have something close to their experience in your area it is worth the drive since they see athletes from all levels of play and all areas of the U.S.

My dd had throwing issues after a collision at 13U where her shoulder was separated. It aggravated a football injury from a few years earlier and she had pain in her scapula area and in the front of her shoulder when throwing and pitching.

We sent her to Beacon after an X-ray and MRI she had some soft tissue damage to the shoulder rotator cuff and what they described as a cyst. We were given options including surgery that may have ended her playing career. We talked about the options and we went the rout of PT that lasted the rest of her playing days. The PT, helped reduce swelling and pain and allowed her to compete up through college as a catcher 1st/3rd base but she had to stop pitching as a Soph in HS.
My dd will most likely have to have surgery at some point since now in nursing it is bothering her when working with patients.

 

[MD 20/20]

Update on the situation. Good news/bad news.........MRI came back negative so there is nothing wrong with her structurally, but we are still left scratching our heads.

 

[dawgpound19]

MD 20/20, ask your doctor about GIRD or look it up on the internet and see if that matches some of her symptoms. GIRD is more common in baseball pitchers but it's from overhand usage in sports like swimming, volleyball, etc. for girls and basically the exterior rotation is out of sync with the interior rotation in the shoulder which causes inflammation and a lot of pain. I'd take her to an orthopedic specialist that specializes in arms/shoulders, etc. Rest and physical therapy will help get the rotation back in her shoulder and make it stronger to eliminate the pain. It's hard to say though what is wrong but don't try and "push" through it or toughen it out so to say this could cause additional problems, keep asking doctors or take her someplace else until you get a diagnosis of what is going on. Just my .02, good luck!

 

[dalemurphy3]

My DD was having an elbow issue last July. She could pitch and hit, but she could not throw overhand without pain. We shut her down and finally saved up enough money to get her down to Becon Orth in Cincy and an MRI. The MRI came back negative and the guy from Beacon said that it was a calcium issue and that I needed to keep her shut down till January and put her on Calcium and Vitamin D vitamins and rotate her from Ibuprofin and Aleve twice a day.

Big thing that he said was that many of the young softball pitchers were not getting enough time off and were being way over used. As a member of the bucket brigade I think I might have pushed her a little to hard, but with girls growing the vitamin thing makes a little sense to me. Guys at Beacon seem to be pretty good. Hope she gets better, tough shutting a girl down when everyone else is out there working, but rest in the off season is really important.

 

[SB23]

My daughter suffered from a strained Trapezius muscle last year, we had to shut her down for two weeks with PT 3 days a week. It definitely did the trick. Good Luck to your daughter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapezius_muscle

 

[fsotlar]

Try a warm down after pitching just bounce a tennis ball off dugout after your done for the day and ice the shoulder after every time she throws pitching or other wise

 

[sammy]

If she throws overhand without pain, but pain returns with pitching, I would suspect a mechanics issue. Specifically a relaxation in her motion. Long and loose is less stressful on muscles and joints than a tense "muscled" motion. Provided she is absolutely healthy, I'd rethink her warmup routine and get a trusted opinion regarding her mechanics.

 

[MD 20/20]

As I was posting to another thread on an injury, I remembered this old dog..... A year later....Last April DD was at the Cleveland Clinic and diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff. Wanna strangle the first Dr. who said "it's just shoulder pain. It's all about pain management. Whatever she can take is all that this is". Anyway, her, her mother and I discussed what this meant for her. Surgery and she can pitch again, or no surgery and her days in the circle are over. She's a smart kid. An above avg. pitcher, but Alabama wasn't beating our door down. She had no desire to play in college, but rather concentrate on her studies. Decision was simple, No surgery. She plays the field but has to be smart about how she throws the ball. Has daily exercises that she does at home to strengthen everything around the shoulder. It was hard on her at 1st, but after time, she came to grips with it. I now heal the wound with laughter and poking at her with "hey, I remember when you use to be a pitcher" and always followed by, "I hate you dad" We get a good chuckle, but she is healthy, happy and still loves to play. She's just never gonna be in the circle again.

God bless these kids and keep them all healthy and happy!!!!!

 

[mogsoftball]

My first thought was labrum as well. Also if the pain is moving around it might be a nerve being pinched or inflamed.

 

[softballgirl19]

My son went through all of this, Rehab, stretching nothing worked college pitcher, They found the torn Lebrum when they did the MRI with dye injection and there it was very small but there 1 anchor 2 stitches 9 months of rehab and still not completely ready to throw off the mound. But from what I have read pretty good guess Lebrum, Pain seemed to move around from front to back. But mostly back he couldn't get the ball to home plate. The thing about all of this is normal stuff you would do during the day right down to excersise would not hurt at all pick up a ball and throw it and total pain. The Indians team Doctor did the surgery and said usually a full year for complete recovery. Many ups and downs.

 

[bowser]

i apoligize for not reading every post in detail ...that said my daughter is a pitcher and she was having pain in her "shoulder" along wih swelling in her hand....she went through several sessions of PT, rest, etc etc...As it turned out she had TOS...Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. She had surgery last summer and it relieved her symptoms...you may want to google T.O.S. to see if your DD's symptoms are related. Wishing your daughter well!

 

[MD 20/20]

Sorry, I may not have been clear with my last post.....The guessing is over. It was a small tear in the rotator cuff. Enough of a tear that it really bothers her if she throws hard for an extended period. She will never pitch again, but she's a position player now and still loves to play.