{"id":752,"date":"2024-03-21T11:04:15","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T15:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scsportsmedicine.com\/?page_id=752"},"modified":"2024-03-21T11:05:32","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T15:05:32","slug":"overuse-shoulder-injuries-in-the-young-athlete","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/scsportsmedicine.com\/patient-information\/health-information\/overuse-shoulder-injuries-in-the-young-athlete","title":{"rendered":"Overuse Shoulder Injuries In The Young Athlete"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nOveruse Shoulder Injuries In The Young Athlete\n<\/h1><\/div>\n<\/section>
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Overuse injuries can be caused by repetitive stress upon muscles,\u00a0tendons, nerves and bones. This stress causes microscopic damage\u00a0to these tissues. Often the body does not have enough time to\u00a0repair the damage between bouts of exercise. About 750,000 overuse\u00a0injuries will occur in young athletes each year. Many of these are\u00a0avoidable.<\/p>

The shoulder joint is highly mobile and allows us to reach overhead, out to the side, behind the back, and across our body to touch the opposite shoulder. This mobility also allows to us to throw overhand. The price we pay for such mobility is that we have less stability of the shoulder joint than other joints in the body. The stabilizing forces about the shoulder are quite complex. There are a set of ligaments that attach the head of the arm bone (humerus) to the socket of the shoulder (glenoid). These ligaments provide static stability to the shoulder joint. There are four muscles known as the rotator cuff, these supply much of the dynamic stability to the shoulder joint. There are other muscles that stabilize the wing bone (scapula) to the body. These are also important for shoulder stability. Learn more about treatments for\u00a0shoulder injuries in Charleston, SC<\/a>.<\/p>

In a physically immature athlete, the development of these muscles,\u00a0tendons, and ligaments are not complete. They have not reached\u00a0their maximal strength and are susceptible to being stretched,\u00a0torn, and overwhelmed by repetitive stresses, such as throwing.\u00a0This tearing, stretching, etc. often presents itself as pain to the\u00a0young athlete.<\/p>

Young athletes who are most likely to experience overuse injuries\u00a0in the shoulder are pitchers, swimmers, and quarterbacks. Many\u00a0times the overuse injuries can be rehabilitated through a program\u00a0of rest, followed by exercises to strengthen these shoulder\u00a0muscles.<\/p>

Often the presenting signs or symptoms of a young athlete who is in\u00a0the throws of overuse syndrome include a change in body mechanics\u00a0during activity. ie. a change in mechanics while pitching a\u00a0baseball. In fact, young throwing athletes, because of this change\u00a0in mechanics, will place increased stress across the elbow and\u00a0often complain of elbow pain before they complain of shoulder pain.<\/p>

The velocity and accuracy of their throwing will be decreased as\u00a0their overuse syndrome continues. They will eventually complain of\u00a0shoulder pain.<\/p>

Some of the syndromes in the shoulder related to repetitive\u00a0throwing include \u201clittle leaguer shoulder\u201d. This is actually a\u00a0stress fracture of the growth plate located in the upper arm bone.\u00a0This has been well documented with x-ray examination and requires\u00a0absolute rest from throwing, if not, there is potential to disrupt\u00a0and alter the growth plate of the upper arm.<\/p>

Another syndrome called tendonitis can occur in one of the rotator\u00a0cuff tendons or in the biceps tendon. It is a painful condition\u00a0that is usually the result of poor mechanics or throwing too hard\u00a0with a tired arm. The muscle-tendon unit can become inflamed\u00a0secondary to microsopic tearing. A burning pain is often felt\u00a0especially with release and follow-through of the ball.<\/p>

When the rotator cuff tendons are over stressed and become tired.\u00a0They can no longer protect the integrity of the joint. The\u00a0ligamentous capsule of the joint is the next structure to be\u00a0stressed. This capsule can be stretched which then may lead to\u00a0permanent instability problems of the shoulder.<\/p>

Shoulder injuries in the young athlete need to be recognized and\u00a0treated promptly. The classic signs are pain, favoring the limb,\u00a0change in throwing mechanics, or a change in accuracy and velocity.\u00a0Treatment of these conditions should include rest and ice for\u00a0several days followed by therapy to strengthen the appropriate\u00a0muscles. Many of the organized little leagues now restrict the\u00a0amount of throwing by a child, including innings pitched per game\u00a0and\/or per week.<\/p>

To avoid overuse injuries, youngsters involved in throwing sports\u00a0need to be monitored closely by their parents and coaches. At the\u00a0first sign of a problem, treatment should ensue. This rest period\u00a0should be approximately two weeks before return to limited throwing\u00a0is undertaken. In a skeletally immature athlete, it is much better\u00a0to be safe than sorry when dealing with overuse injuries. Learn more about\u00a0sports medicine<\/a>\u00a0now.<\/p>

Joseph J. Calandra, M. D.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Overuse Shoulder Injuries In The Young Athlete Overuse injuries can be caused by repetitive stress upon muscles,\u00a0tendons, nerves and bones. This stress causes microscopic damage\u00a0to these tissues. Often the body does not have enough time to\u00a0repair the damage between bouts of exercise. About 750,000 overuse\u00a0injuries will occur in young athletes each year. Many of these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":737,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_breakdance_hide_in_design_set":false,"_breakdance_tags":"","footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scsportsmedicine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/752"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scsportsmedicine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scsportsmedicine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scsportsmedicine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scsportsmedicine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=752"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/scsportsmedicine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":754,"href":"https:\/\/scsportsmedicine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/752\/revisions\/754"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scsportsmedicine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scsportsmedicine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}