Many of the injuries suffered by children and teens in youth baseball are preventable if certain precautions are taken, experts say.
Pre-season injury prevention
- Make sure your child is healthy before the season starts. Before your child starts playing baseball, he should get a complete sports physical ( e.g. pre-participation physical exam) which should include:
- testing for strength, flexibility and endurance.
- a check of overall health should be checked for conditions that might affect his ability to play baseball.
- the taking of a complete injury history.
- the taking of a complete family medical history, especially heart attacks in men under the age of 50, which could help the doctor spot potential heart problems, which, although rare, could be fatal.
A reminder: be sure to tell your child's coach about important medical conditions he may have (such as asthma, diabetes, food or insect allergies etc.).
- Make sure your child is in proper physical condition to play baseball.
- Conditioning-related injuries occur most often at the beginning of a season when kids are most likely to be out of shape.
- Many injuries can be prevented if your child follows a regular strength and conditioning program before the season starts that incorporates exercises designed specifically for baseball, and for the position he plays (for instance, catchers, because they have to squat continuously, should do exercises, such as leg extensions, leg curls, and toe raisers, that develop strength and flexibility of the muscles around the knees, especially those of the thighs and calves).
- Encourage your child to train to get ready to play baseball, rather than expecting to get in shape simply by playing and practicing. A month before the season begins, he should run or engage in some kind of physical exercise one or twice a week. He should gradually increase the number of workouts to three or four times a week by the time team practices begin.
- Many injuries in baseball involve the throwing arm and shoulder. Most pitching injuries are caused by overuse.
- All players, but especially pitchers, should incorporate conditioning and stretching exercises for the shoulder into an overall conditioning program. The muscles in the front of the arm are naturally stronger. Because many shoulder injuries result from weaker muscles in the back of the arm that are used to stop the pitching motion, the conditioning program should emphasize building up those muscles. Exercise routines such as cross-body curls, using light dumbbell weights, and wall push-ups are useful for strengthening shoulder muscles.
- Teach proper throwing mechanics. If your child is a pitcher, make sure he learns how to properly position his throwing arm during all phases of the pitching motion. Pitcher's arm movements during different phases of the pitching motion, if performed incorrectly, can cause injury. Studies have identified four problem areas:
- Maximum shoulder rotation: A pitcher needs to rotate his body more to avoid placing too much stress on the arm and shoulder which occurs when his arm is positioned too far behind his body.
- Improper elbow angle: The pitcher's arm needs to be away from his body when the ball is released; the closer the arm is to the body, the more potential for injury.
- Arm lagging behind the body. When a pitcher gets tired, his arm tends to lag behind his body, placing undue stress on the shoulder.
- Excessive ball speed. Trying to throw too hard can be harmful, especially for young players.
- Make sure your child's coach is qualified. Insist on well-trained coaches. A youth baseball coach should know how to teach proper throwing , batting and catching mechanics, be trained in first-aid and have an emergency medical plan in place for reaching medical personnel to treat injuries such as concussions , dislocations, elbow contusions, wrist or finger sprains, and fractures. Make sure your child's coach teaches players how to avoid injury when sliding (prohibits headfirst sliding in young players), pitching, and batting (including how to get out of the way of a pitch aimed directly at them or, if being hit is unavoidable, how to at least turn away from the pitch).
- Make sure that the coach has an emergency information card on your child and every other player. You should also ensure that a person certified in first aid and CPR is present at every game and practice who is ready to immediately respond to any injury, and that a first-aid kit with ice is on hand.
- Buy your child a mouth guard and make sure he wears it. Mouth guards not only protect the teeth, but the lips, cheeks, and tongue and may reduce the risk of such head and neck injuries as concussions and jaw fractures. For more about mouth guards, click here .
Before practices and games
- Make sure your child always takes time to warm up and stretch. Research shows that cold muscles are more injury prone. While a proper warm-up is important for all youth athletes, it is particularly critical during a growth spurt, when your child's muscles and tendons are tight. Experts, including the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, now recommend dynamic, and static, stretching :
- Jumping jacks, jogging or walking in place for 3 to 5 minutes to get the blood moving through the muscles and ligaments.
- Then slowly and gently stretching, holding each stretch for 30 seconds. Have your child do stretches for the position he plays: for instance, pitchers should concentrate on stretching their arms, shoulders, neck and wrists, in addition to stretching their legs; catchers should concentrate on stretching their legs, knees, feet and back.
- Make sure that your child eases into throwing and swinging. Your child shouldn't start throwing the ball or taking full swings during batting practice right away, especially in cold weather. He should begin by "soft tossing" and then gradually increase the distance and velocity of his throws as his arm gets loose and warm.
- Inspect the playing field. The playing field can pose a risk of injury. Before every game or practice, a parent or the coach should check for holes, ruts, glass, or any other unsafe conditions. Players should be reminded to bring any holes that they encounter on the field to the attention of the coach or umpire. There should also be screens in front of the dugouts.
During practices and games
- Make sure your child wears all required safety gear every time he or she plays and practices. Protective equipment is one of the most important factors in minimizing the risk of injury in baseball. According to a June 1996 study by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), baseball protective equipment currently on the market may prevent, reduce, or lessen the severity of more than 58,000 injuries, or almost 36% of the estimated 162,100 baseball-related injuries requiring emergency-room treatment each year. Because most organized sports-related injuries (62%) occur during practices rather than games, your child needs to take the same safety precautions during practices as he does during games. Your child should wear the following:
- Helmet. A player should wear a properly fitted, certified helmet when batting, waiting to bat, and running the bases. Helmets should have eye protectors, either safety goggles or face guards made of clear plastic that attach to the sides of a batting helmet and covers the chin to the tip of the nose. These devices can help reduce the risk of a serious dental, facial or eye injury if a ball hits your child in the face. According to the CPSC, batting helmets with face guards may prevent, reduce, or lessen the severity of about 3,900 facial injuries suffered by batters in organized youth baseball.
- Protective eyewear. For kids who wear glasses, you should obtain protective eyewear from an eye-care professional who is aware of sports-safety standards, says Dr. Paul Vinger, a clinical professor of ophthalmology at Tufts Medical School in Boston and head of the Protective Eyewear Certification Council. Prescription glasses should be fitted with shatterproof lenses and sports frames that hold the lenses tightly in place.
- Catcher's gear. When catching, your child must always use a catcher's mitt and wear a helmet, face mask, throat guard, long-model chest protector, protective supporter, and shin guards.
- Shoes with molded cleats. Most youth leagues prohibit the use of shoes with steel spikes. Instead, wear molded, cleated baseball shoes. Make sure the shoes fit properly . Poorly fitted shoes, particularly those that allow movement side-to-side, are a major cause of injuries to the feet, knees, and ankles. Avoid hand-me downs, which are likely to fit poorly, and may have worn down cleats. Check the laces frequently for wear.
- Sunscreen: Apply an SPF level 15 sun screen on your child's face, neck and arms before your child goes outside and reapply if he is sweating.
- Clean uniform. Don't let your child leave his dirty uniform in his locker at school or on the floor of his room. Wearing unsanitary clothing poses a risk of staph infection , not only to your child but the rest of the team.
- Use softer-than-standard baseballs for younger players. Softer-than-standard balls may prevent, reduce, or lessen the severity of the 47,900 ball impact injuries to the head and neck, according to the CPSC. Be sure the ball is a softer, lighter baseball; softer, heavier baseballs do not, according to studies, reduce the risk of injuries.
- Replace standard, fixed bases with safety release bases. The CPSC estimates that the use of safety release bases may prevent, reduce, or lessen the severity of the 6,600 base-contact sliding injuries occurring in organized baseball. If your child's league hasn't switched to safety release bases, encourage it to do so.
- Do not conduct batting practice until everyone on the field is ready and paying attention. Especially with younger players, who are easily distracted, it is very important that, when they are in the field, they are paying attention to the batter at all times so they are prepared to field a ball hit in their direction.
- Make sure that players stand out of harms way. When your child's team is batting, they should stand or sit behind screens or fencing in front of the dugout and the on-deck circle should also be behind a screen so players don't get hit by wild pitches, foul balls, and flying bats. Also, make sure that equipment (bats, balls, helmets) is placed where players can't trip on it.
- Modify the rules for younger players. Leagues with players 10 years old and under should alter the rules of the game to include the use of adult pitchers or batting tees.
- Make sure players drink enough fluids. As parent or coach, you are responsible for taking precautions to prevent heat illnesses in exercising children and making sure they drink enough fluids
- Make sure your child's team/club/program has a weather policy. Guidelines regarding playing or practicing in bad weather, such as lightning storms or extreme heat should be established well in advance of the season, and followed by all coaches, players and spectators. In the event of lightning, teach your child to stay away from open fields, trees, and water and to get indoors or inside a car, if possible, until the storm passes, and, if caught out in the open, to lie down and curl up in a fetal position.
Safety during the baseball season
- Talk to and watch your child's coach. Coaches should enforce all the rules of the game, encourage safe play, and understand the special injury risks that young players face. Coaches should never yell at players or engage in any other form of emotional abuse
- Limit pitching.
- Observe pitch limits. Based on research showing a strong link between the number of pitches thrown and increased risk of arm injury, Little League Baseball instituted daily pitch limits and mandatory rest periods between pitching appearances in 2007, which it updated for the 2010 spring season. Dr. James Andrews of the ASMI, perhaps the world's foremost authority on pitching injuries, hailed the Little League pitch limit and rest rules as "one of the most important injury prevention steps ever initiated in youth baseball." USA Baseball recommends pitch limits but does not mandate them.
- Limit innings per week, per season and per year. A 2010 ASMI study also suggests that the number of innings is a factor increasing the risk of serious injury, with pitchers who throw more than 100 innings in a calendar year at 3.5 times greater risk of elbow or shoulder surgery or retirement from throwing due to injury. A note of extreme caution to parents of youth baseball pitchers on independent travel and all-star teams competing in independently-operated tournaments: they may have NO rules at all on pitch limits and rest. It may be up to parents to track their child's pitch counts so they don't exceed recommended limits.
- In its 2011 position statement on overuse injuries ,4 the National Athletic Trainers' Association recommends the following general limits:
- No more than 75 pitches per game for players 9 to 14 (90 pitches for pitchers between 15 and 18)
- Avoid competitive pitching more than 8 months a year
- Avoid pitching more than 600 pitches per season and 2000 to 3000 pitches per year (9- to 14-year olds)
- Pitchers between 15 and 18 years of age should throw no more than 90 pitches per game and pitch no more than 2 games per week.
- Consider delayed throwing of breaking pitches. The relationship between pitch types (particularly curveballs) and injuries in youth baseball pitchers is controversial, with some experts saying pitchers under age 14 should not throw curveballs and others saying curveballs are okay. For more on the curveball controversy, click here .
- Never allow players to play through pain. Any persistent pain is a sign of a chronic (i.e. overuse) or acute injury that should sideline a child from playing until it subsides. Teach your child not to play through pain. If your child gets injured, see your doctor. Follow all the doctor's orders for recovery and get the doctor's (or physical therapist's) OK before allowing your child to play again.
Above all, keep baseball fun. Coaches and parents can prevent injuries, including
emotional injuries by creating an atmosphere of healthy competition and de-emphasizing a"winning-at-all-costs" attitude. Putting too much focus on winning canmake your child push too hard, ignore the signs of injury and riskinjury by playing in pain.
Sources: Numerous, including the American Academy ofPediatrics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), ConsumerProduct Safety Commission, American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons
Updated March 27, 2011
Teaser title:
Baseball Safety, How to Prevent or Reduce Baseball Injuries
Teaser text:
Many of the injuries suffered by children and teens in youth baseball are preventable if certain precautions are taken, experts say.