Pain in Arm After Baseball Practice?

Stretching may help, but the muscles need to be warmed up first. Then ice after practice.
Shaklee makes a great Joint and Muscle Pain Creme. My neighbor's son used it when he was pitching. If you would like a sample of it let me know and I will send it to you.
Victoria

Updated

Stretching may help, but the muscles need to be warmed up first. Then ice after practice.
Shaklee makes a great Joint and Muscle Pain Creme. My neighbor's son used it when he was pitching. If you would like a sample of it let me know and I will send it to you.
Victoria

Hi S..
My son and my nephews are avid baseball players and I have seen this a lot. If your son is sore after practice it is always good to ice where he hurts. Some of the soreness will subside as his body adjusts to using these muscles again after probably not throwing the ball for a long time. Tell him not to strain too hard to get the distance on the throw. It will come with a little practice. I would also maybe ask his coach to watch his mechanics when he throws and see if there is anything in his form that might be causing extra strain.
A little soreness goes with the territory, but if it bothers him too much or for longer than you think is a reasonable time for his muscles to get used to throwing, I would ask his doctor about it.
Good luck and enjoy the season!
Christi

We just finished 4 weeks of physical therapy for my 15 year old daughter for her softball stuff. BUT she is a pitcher so don't freak. I do agree with the other posters that they should be stretching, even a little bit before practice and to ice shoulder and elbow after. It may be good to invest in a good shoulder and/or elbow cold wrap if he is going to take this serious.

Our daughter has been playing softball for 4 years but just started pitching lessons about a year ago. *If I can inject very proud mom here. . . she currently is #2 on the pitching roster because she did work so hard in the off season! But that aside, she has been dedicated to practice and it stirred up a little tendonitis. Because she is taking this serious and will be her sport of choice in high school we felt the need to spend the extra $ not only for some physical therapy (which was really good exercises to strengthen everything related to throwing) and the shoulder wrap.

Maybe a little ibuprophen at bedtime will help too.

Good luck

Hi S.,
My son also plays baseball. It sounds as if your son over did it yesterday.
A couple things to watch:
Are the kids stretching before starting practice? They really need to do this. They are prone to injury, just like us old folks.
He should be throwing using his lower body for power and his arm for accuracy. Younger kids tend to throw only using their arms. If his elbow is sore, he may be throwing "side-arm" instead of overhead and that can do some serious damage if not watched carefully. He may also be throwing from the elbow, instead of whole arm basically causing tennis elbow. I would suggest ice and lay off it for a day. Talk to the coach and make sure they're warming up appropriately. If it persists, I would take him to the doctor.
Good luck, I hope it's just plain old muscle soreness.
S.

I'm guessing he's not throwing correctly. Make sure he's throwing with absolutely no side-arm action. I played competitive fast-pitch softball when I was younger and every time I reverted to more of a side-arm, I had pain in the elbow and shoulder for a few days after. Have his throw evaluated by someone who knows what to look for and how to teach him the right way to throw.

Does he know the different between it hurting and just being sore? Younger kids sometimes don't know the difference. If it is just sore, then he can continue on playing (but needs to stretch before and after practice and needs to be iced after). If it hurts, don't play. Give him a couple of days off or let him do only drills that don't hurt him. After the couple days, try again. If it still hurts then you probably need to see a doctor.
I read an article last year about how orthopedic surgeons, like MLB Dr. James Andrews, are doing arm/shoulder surgeries on younger and younger patients now. It's all about proper mechanics, stretching, and over usage.
By the way, I played softball from age 5 through college, being a pitcher for 15 years. I now coach college softball and still find players that think they can play through pain. It's never a good idea. Remember that he is still young and it's better to be safe than sorry. Good luck.

I'd keep an eye on it. How long was he out of baseball practice? He may just be out of shape. Some ice therapy might work, but if it goes on too long, I'd probably take him in to the dr. How long is too long? I don't know, a week or so i guess.You can always call your doc and just ask for advice.

this may be nothing but a little pain from overworking it but keep an ear open for other complaints and check his full range of motion after he hasn't played for a few days. There is a very, very small risk of a bone tumor and people often don't clue in because they think it's just tendonitis. They show up in the ends of the long bones where the growth plates are.

First thing you need to do is look at his posture. Is his head FORWARD of his shoulders when you look at him from the side? Is his upper back straight or is it rounded? Are his shoulders or the shoulder, dropped forward? The shoulder joint should be in line w/ the back of the EAR.

If ANY of these are an issue, alignment could be the problem. I'd almost guess that it's a huge part of it, if not all since it occurs AFTER baseball practice. Improper alignment can cause tendonitis, headaches, aches and pains in all kinds of places in the body.

Go to the EGOSCUE website and pull of a couple of e-cises for shoulder pain. If you are in the Fishers area and want me to look at him, I'd be more than happy to. I'm a certified posture alignment and pain management specialist.