Baseball is one of the most popular sports in America and has often been called America’s pastime with its easy-to-understand game mechanics and stadium landmarks. The game we’ve come to love has been a popular sport for hundreds of years with early reports saying that baseball started to gain steam in the mid-1800s. Baseball is still one of the most popular sports in America and is often one of the first entry points for youth sports, with millions of children and young adults playing every single year.
Baseball isn’t without its flaws though, as it’s often one of the sports that causes the most injuries in athletes of all ages. Nearly half of all injuries sustained in baseball occur in the upper extremity. Baseball shoulder injuries can happen in a variety of ways like sliding into a base, fielding a ball, or throwing hundreds of pitches per game. We’ve identified some of the most common baseball shoulder injuries, symptoms to look out for, high-risk activities that could lead to injury, and ways you can reduce the risk of future baseball shoulder injuries.
Some of the most common baseball shoulder injuries that can occur include labral tears/injuries, ligament tears/sprains, overuse, tendonitis, dislocations, strains, rotator cuff tears, and bursitis.
The labrum is a cartilage ring that holds your upper arm bone (humerus) onto your shoulder blade (scapula). It improves the connection of this ball and socket joint and allows more stability in the shoulder with movements. With a sport like baseball, which requires a lot of rapid movement through the joint (especially in pitchers), the labrum can tear over time, often at the top (SLAP) or the back (Posterior) section of the labrum. While this does not always require surgery and can improve with physical therapy, it can cause discomfort and limitations to the athlete.
Shoulder ligament tears often come in the form of three different grades of severity which can range from micro-tears to complete tears. Your shoulder ligaments play a key role in helping you perform everyday activities and play baseball including preventing shoulder dislocations, limiting the movement of bones in the shoulder joint, and stabilizing the shoulder. Shoulder sprains can occur when the shoulder has some kind of trauma. In baseball, this type of injury can occur when you get hit with a pitch, slide into a base, make contact with the ground, or collide with other players.
Shoulder strains can occur when the muscle is stretched or torn and can often occur from repeated stress over time. Using improper form and technique or sustaining trauma and overuse when performing certain athletic maneuvers like throwing, sliding, or swinging a bat can cause athletes to develop a shoulder strain. Muscular strains are similar to sprains in that they typically occur at a muscle instead of a ligament.
Shoulder dislocations often occur when there is some sort of collision or trauma on the baseball field. This type of injury can occur when an athlete slides into a base, makes contact with another player, or dives to make a game-saving catch on the field.
The shoulder joint has many different components that help it function and prevent each person from unnecessary injury. One of those parts is the bursa, which is a fluid sac that helps to reduce friction between the bones and tendons. Over time, this fluid sac can become inflamed and lead to shoulder pain.
There are a few telltale signs that you could be experiencing a baseball shoulder injury. Spotting the symptoms early can help you alleviate pain, implement an effective treatment plan, and work to reduce future injuries with the guidance of a licensed physical therapist. The severity, frequency, and duration of shoulder pain symptoms can vary from patient to patient, but we’ve identified some of the most common ones to look out for.
One of the first symptoms to look out for when you think you might have a baseball shoulder injury is swelling in your forearm, shoulder, and elbow. In some cases, this swelling can occur shortly after you just got done playing your most recent baseball game, or they can take several hours to appear.
When you sustain a shoulder injury, your body responds by sending blood, fluid, micronutrients, and white blood cells to the area to try and patch or repair the damage that’s occurred. Your body’s response to the injury can cause the injury site to become inflamed, swell, and prevent you from a full range of motion.
Shoulder injuries from playing baseball can often hide and only present themselves when engaging or participating in the same activity that caused the injury in the first place. For baseball players, this can often come in the shape of difficulty while attempting to throw a baseball.
The next symptom to look out for which might showcase that you have a shoulder injury is when you have pain or soreness several days after you played. Playing any physical sport can cause you to feel aches and pains a day or two after, but if you find that you’re sore for longer than a couple of days, there is a good chance you’ve sustained a shoulder injury.
Shoulder injuries can also cause you to have decreased strength. A decrease in strength might present itself while you’re performing everyday activities or it might happen when you’re throwing the ball back and forth to a pitching partner.
Shoulder injuries from baseball can also cause you to feel like you’ve lost control in that arm or it’s “giving out” when you’re trying to perform certain tasks. If your arm isn’t behaving normally or you feel like it’s not functioning correctly, you might have a shoulder injury that needs evaluation, confirmation, and treatment.
There are several activities that could cause you or someone you know to experience a baseball shoulder injury. The good news is that while there are several different activities and scenarios that could put you at a high risk of an injury, there are things you can do to reduce and prevent future shoulder injuries from happening or getting worse over time with a few changes in your routine.
One of the leading causes athletes experience a baseball shoulder injury is due to the fact that they overload their shoulders and go overboard when it comes to the number of pitches and throws. Experts have analyzed baseball for hundreds of years to get the best results from each athlete, and over time this analysis has helped create pitching and throwing recommendations for baseball athletes.
Pitching and throwing count recommendations help athletes limit the strain and tension they put on their shoulders and the supporting structures with each throw. Athletes and coaches need to heed pitching and throwing count recommendations to avoid injury. Major League Baseball has put a helpful guide together to highlight daily maximum throws by age group and the recommended number of days of rest that coincides with the count.
Another high-risk activity that could cause you to experience a baseball shoulder injury is pitching too frequently. This entails pitching back-to-back games whenever there is a doubleheader or you’re in a tournament and need to pitch multiple days during the same week.
As with all sports, it’s important to make sure that you’re playing at your optimal capacity, which means avoiding playing when you’re feeling fatigued, tired, or downright exhausted. When you try to push your body to its limits when it’s already fatigued, you’re setting yourself up for a future injury. Straining your shoulder and the supporting structures when you’re fatigued could also mean that you haven’t given it the proper time to heal from a prior injury, and you’re setting yourself up to make a nagging injury even worse.
The next leading cause of potential shoulder injuries during baseball season is using improper form. Poor technique and improper form can not only cause shoulder injuries when throwing or pitching, but it can also make recovery difficult when trying to heal from a prior injury.
Athletes like to stay in the best shape they can year-round, which can often mean playing for different year-round organizations and teams in different leagues or locations. Whether you’re part of a travel organization or participating in different types of seasonal leagues, you need to avoid competing too often and with too many teams. Competing year-round means that you’re subjecting your shoulder and its supporting structures to stress and tension without ample time to recover and heal throughout the year.
There are a few ways you can reduce and prevent future shoulder injuries from happening. We’ve identified several key things you can do to make sure that you can spend more time playing the sport you love without being sidelined on the bench with an injury.
Our licensed physical therapists know how athletes love playing their favorite sports and staying at the top of their game which is why our expert PTs use hands-on manual physical therapy to help athletes alleviate their shoulder pain, restore function, improve range of motion, and prevent future shoulder injuries.
One of the key ways in making sure that you can continue to enjoy playing baseball is to address contributing factors of shoulder injuries and shoulder pain before they become worse. Our licensed physical therapists will work with you to develop a unique treatment plan and long-term strategy that is designed with your goals and needs in mind.
Another way to prevent future shoulder injuries from occurring is by focusing on fundamentals and technique over speed. Oftentimes baseball athletes will try and throw or swing as hard as they can because they see professional athletes reaching triple digits on the screen for pitching speed.
Unfortunately, as we’ve outlined earlier, this can lead to significant injury. Work to focus on the fundamentals to build your technique and ensure proper form when throwing and swinging. Solid fundamentals will help you reduce your risk for injury and give you a strong foundation upon which to build when you’re ready to increase your speed.
Playing baseball year-round can be a great way to stay in shape and work on developing your skill, but you also need to take advantage of breaks and rest during the off-season as well. Instead of filling up your schedule with back-to-back games, different sports, and competitive baseball leagues, consider making rest and recovery a priority during the off-season. You can develop your skills and strength during the offseason in a variety of ways without forcing your body to do too much too fast.
Every athlete knows that competitive desire when it comes to competing and winning in a sport they love, but it shouldn’t come at the cost of your health. Avoid overdoing it and putting your body through too much during the games. In baseball, this can often come in the form of pitch and throwing counts like we’ve outlined above. Stick to a healthy pitch and throwing count which will keep you within a healthy range of activity and make sure your coach and playing partners help keep you accountable throughout the season.
As an athlete, one of the most useful tools you can use when you’re playing any sport is to listen to your body. Your body will give you early warning signs that it’s time to take it easy or you need to slow down and they often come in the form of feeling fatigued, pain, sore, or decreased strength. Listen to your body to avoid overdoing it and make rest and recovery a priority during the baseball season.
Each one of our licensed physical therapists are experts at helping you reduce, prevent, and recover from previous shoulder injuries. Our expert PTs are passionate about helping athletes of all ages get back to doing what they love most. Schedule an appointment today at one of the hundreds of Results Physiotherapy physical therapy clinics near you!
