Girls Softball Injuries - Shoulder tendinitis

[Soda]

Shoulder tendinitis also known as the rotator cuff tendinitis affects the muscles and tendons that help move the shoulder joint. This is one of the most common girl softball overuse injuries that occur after a prolonged period of pitching. With every swing a pitcher makes, the muscles and the tendons that connect the shoulder and hold the upper arm bone into the shoulder socket are strained. In the process, the tendons might swell or tear partially or fully resulting in shoulder tendinitis. Shoulder tendinitis is a tear or swelling of tendons in the shoulder after irritation from continued use.

Causes of shoulder tendinitis

In the body, tendons are flexible tissues that connect the muscle to the bones or one bone to another. To allow for movements at the joints, tendons are flexible hence capable of fatigue where there is repeated movement. Shoulder tendinitis, therefore, results from continued impact on the shoulder as a result of movement during pitching. When the shoulder is continually worked in a game, there is a likelihood of fatigue to the muscle in the shoulders and eventually, a tear or an inflammation develops due to the irritation caused by the friction in the shoulder socket every time the arm swings. In most cases, the girl softball overuse injuries of shoulder tendinitis can result from lack of proper technique especially in arm movement and coordination.


Symptoms of shoulder tendinitis

Like any injury, shoulder tendinitis first symptom is pain. At the onset, there is shoulder clicking which occurs every time the arm is raised or moved towards the back. The pain is also experienced when one lies on the affected shoulder or if they try lifting anything with their arm straight. This is an acute pain that affect all sections of the upper arm during any activity causing a fatigue of the shoulder region.

Treatment and prevention of shoulder tendinitis

In any physical activity, fatigue is a necessary part of the process. In softball pitching, the girls can't avoid fatigue but the problem of shoulder tendinitis shouldn?t scare them because it only develops into chronic with continued overuse of the affected shoulder. In pitching, the first prevention initiative is developing a working pitching technique that stops over use and stopping the pitchers once the problem is identified to give the tendons a chance to rest, stop the inflammation or repair the tear. Once the player is off playing, the strain is stopped by a support bandage and to ensure that the injury doesn’t reoccur, physical therapy to establish the causes of pain and prevention is advised. With therapy, a pitcher knows their limit and after the injury they can build their play slowly without straining their shoulder tendons.

Ice and painkillers

Once the pain sets in, the shoulder should be iced to cool the pain and relieve pain. For better results, painkillers should be used when the pain is acute because they heal the torn tendons and relive the pain faster. In a few weeks, the pain clears and the shoulder can be used again but starting slowly to build tolerance or the injury will recur.

Medical treatment

In case the pain lasts longer than usual or interferes with the day-to-day activities, it's advisable to seek medical help from a qualified physician. After a cat scan, the doctor will advise on the appropriate treatment which might include medication or surgery in extreme cases when to repair damage if the tendon is partially or completely torn.

Has your daughter suffer from Shoulder tendinitis? What treatment where the most effective?

If you any medical or injury questions just send me a private message and I'll reply to you questions on the forum?

 

[Fairman]

Parents and Coaches must realize that the act of throwing a ball underhand with tremendous speed and spin is NOT natural and such a motion extracts a penalty on a girls body. That penalty can show up in any muscle group or joint from head to toe. A coach, but especially a parent must pay attention to these signs and rest their dd whenever these nagging pains begin to show. Do not allow your dd to suffer these overuse injuries by pitching that 5th game on a weekend just because the teams needs her, the coach is asking and she wants to. Forfeit the championship game and protect your dd to pitch another day. It's time to step up and be an adult.

The main treatment for these injuries involves rest and a lot of it. If those injuries go all the way to surgery expect to loose two years of development. Just say no, Make sure there are two other pitchers in a travel team and pay attention to what Soda is posting.

PS: Don't wait for pain to show up. Ice after every pitching practice or game, make it a habit.

 

[lewam3]

"Ice and painkillers'

"Once the pain sets in, the shoulder should be iced to cool the pain and relieve pain. For better results, painkillers should be used when the pain is acute because they heal the torn tendons and relive the pain faster. In a few weeks, the pain clears and the shoulder can be used again but starting slowly to build tolerance or the injury will recur. '

When you refer to pain killers, what type of medication are you referring to? And how do pain killers heal torn tendons?

 

[Fairman]

Please.......
Ice and pain killers BEFORE the pain sets in.
Once it grabs hold its a devil to get rid of.

 

[TheSoftballZone]

Please.......
Ice and pain killers BEFORE the pain sets in.
Once it grabs hold its a devil to get rid of.

I've always wonder why when I watch boys baseball I always see the boys icing soulder after games. But in 30 years of girls softball I think I've seen it twice when it come to using ice after pitching a game.

 

[tjsmize3]

"Ice and painkillers'

"Once the pain sets in, the shoulder should be iced to cool the pain and relieve pain. For better results, painkillers should be used when the pain is acute because they heal the torn tendons and relive the pain faster. In a few weeks, the pain clears and the shoulder can be used again but starting slowly to build tolerance or the injury will recur. '

When you refer to pain killers, what type of medication are you referring to? And how do pain killers heal torn tendons?

There was a lot of good stuff in the article above, but I would comment on 2 things that lewam3 is pointing out:

1. "Pain killers" is generally a term for narcotic pain medications, i.e. Norco, Percocet, etc... I am assuming the OP is referring to NSAIDs (anti-inflammatories) when using the term "pain killers."

2. NSAID use, especially long-term use, is known to inhibit bone healing and also tendon to bone healing. It's effect on muscle, tendon and ligament healing is less clear, but it is unlikely to promote healing and may inhibit. Therefore, athletes should use NSAIDs very cautiously and for the short-term with musculoskeletal injuries.

 

[GirlonFire]

Girls Softball Injuries - Shoulder tendinitis

I believe an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of pain killers/NSAIDs. To many injuries to pitchers occur because of improper form, bad mechanics overuse (in training and in games)

I believe pitching coaches and parents need to continously assess a pitchers form and mechanics, making sure their is no bad habits forming this can start a domino effect which may lead to injuries.

Some parents push their kids to work hard, this can be a good lesson for life as long as you don't push them to the point of possibly injuring themselves.
Some pitchers are taught to fight through pain when they're pitching, I can't think of worse advice to give to athletes. if your daughter is in pain her body is telling her something is wrong. (their is a difference between soreness and pain) muscles become sore from excercise, pain can mean something more serious.

I think parents, instructors, and coaches would agree that even the best pitchers have limitations, we should be mindful of all athletes well being especially our youngest.
I believe age appropriate pitch counts should be implemented in High school, and tournament fastpitch softball.
My daughter has pitched fastpitch softball for better then eight years and has never had an injury from pitching.

 

[Soda]

Anti-inflammatory Help Promote Healing of strain or torn tendons and muscle tissue in young female athletes.

Anti inflammatory medications are drugs that are commonly used in the treatment of sports injuries primarily to reduce swelling, pain, heat, and redness associated with inflammation. The most common ones are aspirin, ibuprofen, Motrin, Aleve, among many more. The aim of these medications is to minimize the inflammatory response. Following these injuries, chemicals released by the damaged tissues normally mediate the inflammatory response.

They cause vasodilatation of the blood vessels and the cellular fluid to leak into the tissues. Their role is to reduce the response so that healing can take place. However, it?s important to note that this is the first step in the healing process. In fact, the loss and pain may be helpful to prevent further damage to the healing part of the body. Experts have noted that anti-inflammatory medications can provide pain relief and minimize the signs of inflammation especially if used in the early stages of the injury.

Although the ones prescribed by the doctor are appropriate in the early stages, there use should be stopped as soon as possible so as to prevent any adverse effects on the healing.