Sport
Pitching is one of the hardest things a joint does in sport: the elbow and shoulder take large twisting and bending forces with every throw, and in fast-pitch softball, the windmill action pulls on the shoulder with about 80% of the pitcher's bodyweight. Throwing too much, too often, and while tired or sore are the strongest risk factors for arm injuries in young players, which is why Major League Baseball (MLB) and USA Baseball's Pitch Smart guidelines set daily pitch limits and rest days by age. Batters, catchers and fielders face other risks: pulled hamstrings running to first base, balls to the head and face, and sliding into bases.
This guide covers what baseball and softball ask of your body, the common injuries, pitch counts and rest days (including the UK's youth league rules), a 10-minute arm care routine that went with fewer shoulder and elbow injuries in young players in a trial, shoulder range and strength, safety equipment from faceguards to breakaway bases, and training to throw and hit harder, without weighted balls. It includes an arm care warm-up and a throwing strength workout, with a 3D demo of every move.
Pitching with a tired arm was the strongest risk factor for shoulder and elbow injury in adolescent pitchers, and pitching more than 100 innings a year went with 3.5 times the risk of serious injury over 10 years. These are associations.
Daily maximums run from 50 pitches at ages 7 and 8 to 105 at 17 and 18, with rest days by pitches thrown, no pitching on 3 days in a row and months off every year. UK youth leagues follow similar Little League limits.
After US high schools brought in pitching limits, injury rates didn't change overall, but rules requiring rest between days of pitching, or capping a day at 105 pitches or fewer, went with far fewer shoulder and elbow injuries.
Source 5
In 237 Japanese players aged 9 to 11, teams doing a warm-up of stretches, mobility and balance exercises at least once a week had 1.7 shoulder and elbow injuries per 1,000 practices and games, against 3.1 in teams that didn't.
In a trial in teenage pitchers, a 6-week weighted-ball programme raised pitch speed by 3.3%, but 4 of the 17 who finished it had elbow injuries, against none of 19 who didn't do it.
Source 8
In Little League, batting-helmet faceguards and reduced-impact balls went with fewer face and ball injuries. A ball to the chest can stop the heart; fast cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and a defibrillator save lives.
A pitch, a swing, a sprint to first base, spread across long games and practices. The Compendium of Physical Activities gives softball or baseball 5.0 metabolic equivalents (METs) and softball pitching 6.0, the second an estimated value rather than a measured one.
Source 11
In 26 skilled adult pitchers, the shoulder generated 67 newton-metres of rotating force and the elbow resisted 64 newton-metres of bending force just before the arm reached full cocking, and the shoulder took 1,090 newtons of compression after release. Across 231 pitchers from youth to professional level, the movements and their timing were similar, but the loads rose with level, which the authors put down to strength and muscle mass.
In 8 pitchers, the elbow and shoulder took compression forces of 70% to 98% of bodyweight, and in 24 Olympic pitchers, the shoulder was pulled with about 80% of bodyweight, similar to baseball pitching. Underhand doesn't mean easy on the arm.
Rotational swings strain the side muscles, most often on the leading side, and hook-of-hamate fractures in the hand had the highest surgery rate of any professional baseball injury (81%). Running to first base caused about two-thirds of professional hamstring strains, sliding into fixed bases injures ankles, and catchers were over-represented among fielding concussions in professional baseball.
Shoulder outward-rotation strength and range, shoulder-blade control, forearm strength, hip and trunk rotation, single-leg stability for the stride, sprint speed, and recovery between throwing days.
Each study counted injuries its own way, so the figures in different lines aren't comparable. An exposure is one player taking part in one practice or game.
The numbers, by group:
Pitchers had 57% of US high-school elbow injuries, most of them from overuse. Injuries of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) on the inner elbow cost the most playing days in professional baseball, and reconstructions (Tommy John surgery) are rising, mostly in teenagers: 15 to 19-year-olds had 56.8% of them in one US insurance database. In children, the same strain falls on the growth plate of the inner elbow, called Little League elbow. Our elbow pain guide covers what to do.
The shoulder took 17.6% of US high-school baseball injuries, and pitchers had 40% of high-school shoulder injuries. In one children's hospital, cases of Little League shoulder, an overuse injury of the growth plate at the top of the upper arm bone, rose every year: 95 players, at an average age of 13, 86% of them pitchers. Our shoulder pain, rotator cuff tear and SLAP tear guides cover adults.
In a season of youth fast-pitch softball, 38% of 48 pitchers had a pitching injury, 61% of them at the shoulder and 78% in the first 6 weeks. High-school pitchers' pain and fatigue rose, and strength fell, over a season, and over 2 and 3-day tournaments their shoulder strength, pain and fatigue didn't recover between days. Concussion was the commonest single diagnosis in US college softball (6.8%).
Hamstring strains were professional baseball's commonest injury, about two-thirds of them while running to first base. Oblique (side) strains cost about 22 days each, from batting (46%) and pitching (35%), and 77% were on the leading side. After surgery for a hook-of-hamate fracture, professionals were hitting again in about 4.6 weeks. Our hamstring strain, abdominal strain (side strain) and broken hand guides cover these.
Being hit by a batted ball caused 11.6% of US high-school baseball injuries, nearly half of them to the head or face. In professionals there were 0.42 concussions per 1,000 exposures, catchers were over-represented, and 1 in 2,554 plate appearances led to a hit-by-pitch injury. In children's emergency visits, being hit by the ball caused about half of baseball and softball injuries, and sliding 13% to 16%.
In US high schools, injury rates didn't change after state pitching restrictions became compulsory in 2016, but two parts of the rules went with far fewer shoulder and elbow injuries: a rule requiring rest between days of pitching (about two-thirds fewer) and a daily cap of 105 pitches or fewer (about 60% fewer). Rules only help if they're followed: 89% of high-school pitchers broke a Pitch Smart guideline at least once, and in youth tournaments, half of pitchers did, mostly by not resting enough. Even Little League pitchers who kept to the limits showed elbow changes on scans over a season, more often if they played all year round. The limits are in the next section.
A warm-up from Yokohama, Japan, as two reviews describe it (the trial papers weren't available to us):
In 305 players aged 8 to 11 without arm pain, not randomised, a longer programme of 9 strengthening and 9 stretching exercises twice a week went with half the inner-elbow injuries (0.8 against 1.7 per 1,000 exposures). 57% kept it up; the shorter, modified programme above was kept up better.
Shoulder Control, five exercises for the shoulder blade, rotator cuff and trunk, cut shoulder injuries by more than half in adolescent elite handball players, and a similar programme cut shoulder problems in elite handball by about a quarter. Handball throwing is overhead throwing, like pitching, but neither has been tested in baseball or softball. The throwing arm strength workout starts with it.
In a trial of 38 pitchers aged 13 to 18, a 6-week programme with balls from 2 to 32 oz, 3 times a week, raised pitch speed by 3.3%, but 4 of the 17 who finished it had elbow injuries, 2 of them stress fractures, against none of 19 who didn't do it. Across 10 studies, the evidence was very poor and the injury risk couldn't be judged.
Curveballs and sliders went with more arm pain in a cohort of 476 pitchers aged 9 to 14, and curveballs with arm pain in a national survey, but curveballs before 13 weren't shown to raise serious injury over 10 years. Pitch Smart advises fastballs and changeups only up to 12, and breaking pitches from 13 once those are consistent.
Across 25 trials, stretching programmes didn't prevent sports injuries. Targeted shoulder stretching for pitchers is a separate question, covered in the shoulder section below.
Source 43
Across 13 small trials in baseball, softball and tennis players, resistance training raised throwing or serving speed, most with periodised programmes, though six of the trials couldn't rule out no effect. In 34 players aged 11 to 15, a 4-week programme of elastic-tubing exercises, throwing and stretching, 75 minutes 3 times a week, raised throwing speed from 25.1 to 26.1 metres a second. In 24 college players, 8 weeks of upper-body plyometric exercises twice a week raised throwing speed by about 2 mph (3 km/h). In the Yokohama trial, ball speed also rose more in children doing the warm-up than in those who didn't.
In 49 high-school players, adding medicine-ball throws 3 times a week to lifting and 100 swings a day raised trunk rotation strength more over 12 weeks (17% to 18% against 10%). Warming up with a heavy bat gave slower bat speed afterwards than a light or normal bat in recreational players, and in college players, warm-up devices from 22 to 96 oz made no difference.
Too little outward rotation and weak outward rotators went with shoulder injury in professional pitchers, and Shoulder Control, from handball, is the tested template for strengthening. A short stretching drill after 40 pitches restored shoulder rotation in 20 professional pitchers.
Running to first base caused about two-thirds of professional hamstring strains, and programmes with the Nordic hamstring exercise were linked with about half as many hamstring injuries in other sports, though when only properly randomised trials are pooled the effect is uncertain.
Use Pitch Smart's months off for strength, power and other sports, with 2 to 3 strength sessions a week, and build back up to throwing gradually before pitching off a mound. In season, do the arm care warm-up before throwing and 1 or 2 short strength sessions a week, never the day before pitching, and follow the rest table across every team and tournament.
Softball pitchers have no official limits, so count pitches and plan rest days within multi-day tournaments. Children should play other sports too: Pitch Smart asks young players to focus on athleticism, fitness and fun, and the NHS (the UK's National Health Service) asks for a variety of activities across the week.
MLB and USA Baseball's guidelines give the most pitches in a day, and the rest days needed after each number of pitches:
Source 3
At every age, and especially across teams:
Source 3
The British Baseball Federation's 2026 youth league rules follow Little League's:
Source 4
Pitch Smart covers baseball only, and no pitch-count rules existed in US or Canadian softball as of 2023; one study linked more than 85 pitches in a game with injury. Over 2 and 3-day tournaments, pitchers aged 14 to 18 lost shoulder strength and gained pain and fatigue without recovering fully between days. Count pitches, share the pitching and plan rest days (our suggestion).
Associations from cohorts and surveys. In 476 pitchers aged 9 to 14, more pitches per game and per season went with elbow and shoulder pain. Over 10 years, pitching more than 100 innings a year went with 3.5 times the risk of surgery or retiring injured. Injured adolescent pitchers had pitched more months, games and pitches, at more showcases, and more often with a tired or painful arm. In a national survey, pitching on consecutive days and for several teams went with arm pain, and pooled across 5 studies, pitching with arm fatigue went with about 13 times the odds of injury.
Pitching with a tired arm was the strongest risk factor for shoulder and elbow injury in adolescents, and in a national survey of 754 young pitchers, often pitching while tired or in pain went with about 7.5 to 8 times the odds of injury. A child with elbow or shoulder pain when throwing should stop throwing and get it checked, as our elbow pain guide advises.
Pitching for several teams at once and in several games a day went with arm pain, injured pitchers had pitched at more showcases, and year-round play went with elbow changes on scans. Across 14 prospective studies, more than 100 innings a year, age 9 to 11, pitching or catching, more than 16 hours a week and past elbow pain went with elbow injury.
Until growth ends, the strain of throwing falls on growth plates, at the inner elbow and at the top of the upper arm bone. In one children's hospital, Little League shoulder was diagnosed more often every year, mostly in 13-year-old pitchers; after rest and physiotherapy, they returned to competition after about 4 months on average, and 7% had symptoms again. Elbow ligament reconstructions are rising fastest in teenagers. Pain on the outside of a young thrower's elbow can be osteochondritis dissecans: see our elbow OCD guide.
Across sports, highly specialised young athletes had more overuse injuries, as did those training more hours a week than their age in years. Pitch Smart asks children to play other sports during the year.
In 296 professional pitchers followed over 8 seasons, losing inward rotation on its own didn't predict injury, but too little outward rotation in the throwing shoulder doubled the risk of shoulder injury, and deficits of 5 degrees or more in total rotation or in raising the arm forwards went with elbow injury. Pooled across studies of professional pitchers, too little outward rotation went with about twice the odds of injury. In high-school softball and baseball players, a large loss of inward rotation (25 degrees or more) went with 4 times the risk, and in professionals, weak outward rotators before the season went with injuries needing surgery.
Our shoulder guides use the cross-body stretch first, and the sleeper stretch only for a clear loss of inward rotation on one side. In one study of 92 high-school pitchers who chose their own groups, those doing daily sleeper stretches (5 holds of 60 seconds after practice) had fewer injuries that kept them out for 8 days or more: 25%, against 57% with no programme. Because the groups weren't randomised, and loss of inward rotation alone didn't predict injury in professionals, we keep our rule. A physiotherapist can measure your range.
Pooled evidence supports checking shoulder range before the season in professional pitchers, not yet in softball or other overhead sports. For competitive pitchers, a physiotherapist's check of range and strength is a sensible start to the season (our suggestion).
Source 63
Across 6.7 million Little League player-seasons, reduced-impact balls went with about 28% fewer ball injuries, more so in the younger division, and batting-helmet faceguards with about a third fewer facial injuries, metal and plastic alike. It was an observational study, and these injuries were uncommon to begin with.
Source 9
In recreational softball, fixed bases led to 45 sliding injuries in 627 games, against 2 in 633 games on bases that break away when hit.
Source 19
From their injury data, US researchers recommend mouthguards, safety bases, helmets with face shields and safety balls for children, and helmets with face shields, or at least mouthguards and eye protection, for high-school pitchers, infielders and batters.
Rarely, a ball striking the chest at the wrong moment stops the heart. In the US registry, 32 of 85 cases in organised sport (38%) happened despite a chest protector, including 3 baseball catchers. Survival has risen, from 10% before 1994 to 58% in the 6 years to 2012, and was 40% when resuscitation started within 3 minutes, against 5% when it started later. Newer chest protectors are tested to a US standard adopted in 2018 and finalised in 2021.
If a player collapses and isn't breathing normally: call 999, start CPR straight away and send someone for a defibrillator.
In the UK, the grassroots concussion guidelines cover baseball and softball like any other sport: if in doubt, sit them out, no training or games for at least 24 hours, an assessment within 24 hours by a healthcare professional or NHS 111, and no return to competition before day 21. Catchers and batters carry most of the risk.
Built on the Yokohama programme as two reviews describe it: 9 exercises, about 10 minutes, at least once a week, trialled in Japanese players aged 9 to 11. The trial's exact techniques weren't available, so the massage, the shoulder stretch, the sideways slide and the elbow-to-knee balance use the closest moves we have, and every rep and time is our editorial choice. The throwing build-up is editorial too.
Loading the 3D figure…
The movement on the figure: Cross-body shoulder stretch
The arm care warm-up's stretches and balance work, and the throwing strength workout's shoulder, forearm and power exercises. Each has a 3D demo.
3D demoCross-body shoulder stretchBeginner · No equipment
3D demoWrist flexor stretchBeginner · A wall
3D demoDoorway chest openerBeginner · A wall
3D demoCat-cowBeginner · No equipment
3D demoThoracic rotationBeginner · No equipment
3D demoSingle-leg reach matrixIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoScaption raiseBeginner · A dumbbell
3D demoScapular push-up (push-up plus)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoSide-lying dumbbell external rotation (on a bench)Beginner · A dumbbell + A bench or box
3D demoStanding band external rotationBeginner · A band + An anchor point
3D demoProne Y-T-W raisesBeginner · No equipment
3D demoDumbbell forearm rotationBeginner · A dumbbell + A bench or box
3D demoMedicine-ball scoop throw (backward overhead throw)Beginner · Medicine ball
3D demoRear-foot-elevated split squat (Bulgarian split squat)Intermediate · A bench or boxThe first two are new: an arm care warm-up built on the Yokohama programme, and a throwing strength workout that starts with Shoulder Control. The tennis and padel prevention routine has Shoulder Control as trialled in handball, and the hamstring and groin session has the Nordic programme.
A 12-minute arm care warm-up for baseball and softball, built on a Japanese youth programme: an arm massage, shoulder, forearm and hip stretches, and balance.
12 minBeginner9 movesA massage ball, A wallA 35-minute session for baseball and softball players: the five Shoulder Control exercises, rotator cuff and forearm work, medicine-ball throws and legs.
35 minIntermediate17 movesA dumbbell, A cable machineA 25-minute routine for racket players: the five-part Shoulder Control programme from handball trials, band rotations, forearm lowering, hops and balance.
25 minBeginner12 movesA dumbbell, A cable machineA 25-minute band routine for healthy shoulders: move the shoulder and upper back through their range, then strengthen the rotator cuff and shoulder blades.
25 minBeginner12 movesA wall, A bandA 12-minute warm-up for tennis, padel, squash or badminton: skipping, leg swings, trunk turns, band shoulder work, forearm circles, shuttles and landings.
12 minBeginner10 movesA wall, A bandWrist mobility and forearm strength for desk work, climbing, push-ups and handstands.
10 minBeginner7 movesA wall, A dumbbellA 20-minute grip session: warm up the wrists and fingers, train the hand and forearm muscles, then carry and hang to load your grip the way everyday life does.
20 minBeginner10 movesOther / check instructions, A bandThe Nordic hamstring and Copenhagen adduction programmes from the football trials: a 10-week build, three adductor levels, then once a week in season.
15 minIntermediate6 movesA wall, An anchor pointAn advanced jump training session: pogo hops, box jumps, split squat jumps, broad jumps and depth jumps.
30 minAdvanced8 movesA bench or box, A stepA gym lower body workout for legs and glutes: trap bar deadlifts, hip thrusts, reverse lunges, leg curls, hip abduction, calf raises and core.
50 minIntermediate13 movesOther / check instructions, A barbellA 10-minute warm-up for any workout: raise your heart rate, move each joint through its range, rehearse the main movements, then ramp up to your first lift.
10 minBeginner12 movesA wall, A bandTwo or three strength sessions a week fit the off-season; drop to one or two in season, never the day before pitching.
Two full-body strength sessions a week: the minimum that meets health guidelines, with every set, rep and rest, and an 8-week progression.
2 training days45 minBeginner3 days a weekA beginner gym plan: three full-body sessions a week, alternating workouts A and B, with sets, reps, rest and an 8-week progression.
3 training days45 minBeginnerThe PAR-Q+ (Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire for Everyone) asks about a heart condition or high blood pressure, chest pain, dizziness or losing consciousness, other long-term conditions and their medicines, a bone or joint problem that activity could make worse, and being told to exercise only under supervision. If you answer yes to any, check with your GP or a qualified exercise professional first. If you're over 45 and not used to hard exercise, ask a qualified exercise professional before the hardest sessions, and delay if you're ill.
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Stop throwing and see a GP or sports physiotherapist. Often pitching with arm pain went with about 7.5 times the odds of injury, and Little League shoulder is being diagnosed more often. Our elbow pain guide says the same for thrower's elbow, and the way back is a staged throwing programme.
Count every pitch across every team, keep to Pitch Smart's rest days, and take the months off.
Pitch Smart advises against playing catcher when not pitching, and British under-16s may not pitch and catch on the same day.
Come back through a staged throwing programme with your physiotherapist, as our SLAP tear guide describes.
The NHS advises seeing a GP if you've fainted, and the PAR-Q+ asks you to check first if you get chest pain or dizziness: do that before you play.
The NHS advises against sports with a risk of falling or bumping your tummy, and baseball and softball add sliding and ball strikes. Talk to your midwife or GP; batting practice and throwing without sliding or catching may suit (our suggestion).
Source 72
Pain on the inside of the elbow when throwing means stop throwing and get it checked, as our elbow pain guide advises. The NHS says to go to an urgent treatment centre or A&E (accident and emergency) if you have severe pain in your arm and it's difficult to move, you heard a snapping noise or your arm changed shape after an injury, or your arm tingles or feels numb.
Source 73
Ask for an urgent GP appointment or contact NHS 111 for sudden or very bad shoulder pain, an arm you can't move, a shoulder that has changed shape or is badly swollen, pins and needles that don't go away, no feeling in the arm or shoulder, an arm or shoulder that's hot or cold to touch, or pain that started after an injury.
Source 74
If they're unresponsive and not breathing normally, call 999, start CPR straight away and send someone for the nearest defibrillator. In the US registry, survival was 40% when resuscitation started within 3 minutes, against 5% after.
The NHS says to call 999 if someone has hit their head and:
Source 75
Stop playing: if in doubt, sit them out. Contact NHS 111 within 24 hours, and straight away if they're being sick, feel dizzy or take medicine that thins the blood. No return to competition before day 21; our concussion guide covers the stages.
Call 999 if someone faints while exercising, or faints and can't be woken within a minute, or has chest pain, a pounding, fluttering or irregular heartbeat, or a fit. Call 999 for sudden chest pain that doesn't go away, pain that spreads to your arms, neck, jaw, stomach or back, or chest pain with sweating, feeling sick, light-headedness or breathlessness.
Go to A&E or call 999 if something hit your eye at high speed, your sight has changed, you have severe pain in the eye, you feel or are sick, you can't move your eye or keep it open, or blood or pus is coming from it.
Source 77
Go to A&E if a finger points at an odd angle, looks blue or feels numb, or is cut with bone showing. Get help from NHS 111 if it's painful, swollen and bruised, or stiff and difficult to move. A fingertip that won't straighten needs same-day advice, as our mallet finger guide explains.
Source 78
Call 999 or go to A&E if you heard a crack when you were injured, the injured part has changed shape or points at an odd angle, it's numb or tingling, or the skin has turned blue or grey or is cold to touch. Get help from NHS 111 or an urgent treatment centre if it's very painful, very swollen or bruised, or you can't put weight on it or walk more than a few steps.
Source 79
Pain at the heel of the hand that doesn't settle after swinging a bat needs checking (our suggestion): in professionals, hook-of-hamate fractures had the highest surgery rate of any injury.
Source 17
A national high-school mandate made no measurable difference overall, while rest-day rules did, and elbow changes on scans appeared in Little League pitchers who kept to the limits, especially those playing all year. Rest days, months off and stopping when tired matter as much as the count.
Curveballs and sliders went with more arm pain in one cohort and a survey, but weren't shown to raise serious injury over 10 years. Pitch Smart's advice is fastballs and changeups first, with breaking pitches from 13.
Pitching with a tired or painful arm is the strongest risk factor for injury in adolescents, and young throwers with elbow pain should stop and get checked.
In the one trial that tracked injuries, 4 of the 17 teenage pitchers who finished a weighted-ball programme had elbow injuries, against none of 19 who didn't do it, and the wider evidence is very poor.
Windmill pitching pulls on the shoulder with about 80% of bodyweight, strength and fatigue don't recover between tournament days, and no official limits exist.
Warming up with a heavy bat gave slower normal-bat speed than a light or normal bat in recreational players, and in college players, warm-up devices made no difference.
In professional pitchers, too little outward rotation, and deficits in total rotation and raising the arm, predicted injury, not loss of inward rotation alone; one non-randomised high-school study supports daily sleeper stretches. Our shoulder guides keep the sleeper stretch for a measured loss on one side.
Many deaths in organised sport happened with chest protectors on, including baseball catchers. Fast CPR and a defibrillator save lives, and newer protectors are tested to a specific standard.
Under MLB and USA Baseball's Pitch Smart, the daily maximum is 50 pitches at 7 and 8, 75 at 9 and 10, 85 at 11 and 12, 95 at 13 to 16, 105 at 17 and 18, and 120 at 19 to 22, with rest days set by the number thrown. UK youth leagues follow similar Little League rules: 85 pitches at under-12, and 95 at under-14 and under-16.
For ages 7 to 14, 1 to 20 pitches need no rest day, 21 to 35 need one, 36 to 50 two, 51 to 65 three, and 66 or more four. From 15, the bands are 1 to 30, 31 to 45, 46 to 60, 61 to 75 (or 80 from 17), and four days above that. Never pitch on 3 days in a row.
Throwing too much, too often or while tired: pitching with arm fatigue was the strongest risk factor in adolescents, and more than 100 innings a year went with 3.5 times the risk of serious injury. Pain on the inside of the elbow in a young thrower means stop throwing and get it checked.
In 237 players aged 9 to 11, a 10-minute warm-up of forearm and shoulder stretches, a hip stretch, upper-back mobility and one-leg balance drills, done at least once a week for a year, nearly halved shoulder and elbow injuries. Older players can add rotator cuff and shoulder-blade strength work, as in Shoulder Control, which cut shoulder injuries in handball.
Not proven. In a trial in teenage pitchers, a 6-week weighted-ball programme raised pitch speed by 3.3%, but 4 of the 17 who finished it had elbow injuries, against none in the comparison group, and the wider evidence is very poor.
Build strength and power: resistance training raises throwing speed in overhead athletes, and in young players a 4-week programme of tubing exercises, throwing and stretching raised throwing speed. Leg, hip and trunk power matter as much as the arm.
Not officially: no pitch-count rules existed in US or Canadian softball as of 2023, and Pitch Smart covers baseball only. Shoulder strength, pain and fatigue don't fully recover between tournament days, so plan rest days and share the pitching.
An overuse injury of the growth plate at the top of the upper arm bone in young throwers, mostly pitchers around 13, causing shoulder pain when throwing. In one children's hospital, nearly all were treated with rest and most with physiotherapy, and they returned to competition after about 4 months on average.
Batting helmets are standard, and faceguards went with about a third fewer facial injuries in Little League. Being hit by a batted ball caused 11.6% of US high-school baseball injuries, nearly half of them to the head or face.
Call 999, start CPR and get a defibrillator straight away. This is commotio cordis: rare, but survival was 40% when resuscitation started within 3 minutes, against 5% after.
Exercise education for people who play sport, not a personal prescription or a diagnosis, and clinical review of these pages is pending. Check with a GP or physiotherapist before hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or an injury that isn't settling, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
