This is a guest post from Dr. Justin Rabinowitz of Functional Performance therapy.
Have you ever wondered why so many of your son’s teammates and friends are always hurt and missing games? If you are reading this post, there is a good chance you have thought about this and are trying to do the best you can to keep your son healthy, giving him the best chance to succeed on the baseball diamond.
Luckily, what I am about to tell you is the most common reason why your son or your son’s friend may have been injured or may get injured.
It’s really one simple word: Overuse.
Yes, you read that correctly. According to the American Sports Medicine Institute, the most likely reason that a youth baseball player will get injured is that they simply throw too much.
But what is too much?
Really, it’s two simple rules. If we can follow these, the likelihood is that the injuries in youth baseball would be reduced dramatically.
Rule #1: A pitcher should not throw more than 100 innings in a calendar year. This includes Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer ball. To give a little perspective, I went back and looked at the New Jersey All-State baseball team a few years ago and recorded their innings for the season. They were as follows: 72, 70, 87, 60.
So the good news is that they stayed under the 100-inning threshold. The bad news? This only included the high school season and had nothing to do with summer baseball, fall baseball, or winter training. We can easily assume they all surpassed this 100- inning mark.
Rule #2: A thrower should take at least 3 months (4 months is preferred) off from throwing each calendar year. This ensures that the arm is given adequate time for rest and recovery.
You see, throwing a baseball is an extremely violent and unnatural motion. Without enough time to recover, the likelihood that something will go wrong in the shoulder, elbow or maybe even a different body part is very high.
Conclusion: Following these two simple rules will certainly give your son a great chance to stay healthy throughout his baseball career. We know that injuries do happen but being preventative gives your son the best chance to not be another injury statistic.
P.S I know that choosing a strength & conditioning program isn’t easy. There are a lot of factors that go into it like price, time & results. In my book, The Parents Guide To Strength Training For Baseball, you’ll have all the information you need to give your son the best chance to succeed. Just CLICK HERE to download it for FREE today.
Dr. Justin Rabinowitz helps baseball players get healthy. He is a Chiropractor and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist with a focus on soft tissue therapy, corrective exercise, and functional training. He has an extensive baseball background as he was the team captain at Ramapo College of New Jersey. There, he played first base. In addition to his duties treating patients, Dr. Justin volunteered his time coaching youth baseball this past summer in Westfield, New Jersey. Dr. Justin currently practices at Functional Performance Therapy in Fanwood, New Jersey. To discuss your son’s injury please call (908)288-7049
