Common Injuries and Treatments for Baseball Players

HOI Sports Medicine Surgeon Dr. Taylor Dunphy shares about Common Shoulder Injuries for Baseball Players from labral tears to rotator cuff injuries, what athletes can to to avoid injury, and when they should seek additional care.

Q: What is the most important advice you can give throwing athletes?

A: It’s important for throwing athletes to have mobility and strength. Without those two things, shoulder problems occur.

Q: What are some of the main injuries you see with baseball players? How do they occur?

A: The main issues I see are around the labrum. The labrum is the most mobile joint in the body. With throwing athletes, there is a lot of strain on the tissues around the labrum due to the force.

Labrum tears can occur when you’re bringing your arm up to throw. Your arm is coming up in a cocking position, and when you do that, you’re putting a lot of pressure on the posterior part of the shoulder. The cocking motion creates a lot of force and torque on the labrum and biceps, which can lead to a SLAP tear, on the front or the back of the labrum. A lot of overheard (throwing) athletes can notice they have a dead arm or lose velocity, that is from a labrum tear.

Rotator cuff injuries can also occur from that same cocking position, when athletes feel a pinch in that same area. These are usually small tears but can progress to big tears over time/

It’s important that athletes have good mechanics and good strength to prevent these shoulder injuries.

Q: How can you tell if you have a problem in your shoulder?

A: Pitchers have a lot of external rotation (backwards), but when you see a loss of the internal (forward, away from your body) rotation, then it could be a sign of a bigger problem.

Q: What are some stretches you can do to help your throwing arm?

A: One stretch is the sleeper stretch, where you are on your side and you’re trying to get your shoulder to rotate in more to help stretch out the posterior capsule. This puts less pressure on the labrum and rotator cuff. Another good stretch is a cross-body stretch where you try to stretch your arm across your body to stretch out that posterior capsule again. This should help lossen your shoulder and improve your mechanics.

Q. When should I see an orthopedic surgeon?

A. It’s always important for athletes to speak with their coaches and athletic trainers, who can help identify any issues. For acute injuries, meaning you throw one pitch and I can’t feel my arm any more or have a dramatic loss of function, then you need to seek care with an orthopedic specialist immediately.

For increasing soreness, you may want to reduce your pitch count to see if that helps resolve the issue, and an anti-inflammatory can help as well. If pain persists for more than two weeks, then I highly recommend getting a referral and seeking care with a specialized sports medicine surgeon.