On Wednesday, the National Athletic Trainers Association hosted the webinar “Swinging Through Summer: A Look at Baseball, Body Mechanics and Injury Prevention.” Panelists discussed common upper extremity injuries in baseball players at all levels and trends in injury prevention.
Hosted by NATA president A.J Duffy, he asked panelists, including Michael Ludwikowski, Stephen Thomas, Ciara Taylor, Alison Snyder Valier, Nick Kenney, Henry Eilen, Erik Nelson and Brandon Erickson to share their experiences treating and studying upper extremity injuries.
For Michael Ludwikowski, who works for Little League Baseball, he boiled down injury prevention and care at his organization to “sound athletic training and sound pediatric care.” At Little League, Ludwikowski and his team are treating high-level youth athletes and it isn’t uncommon for them to encounter injuries with “shoulders, elbows and rotator cuffs on youth athletes because they could throw up to six innings a week in the regular season.”
In the classroom and on the field with the Phillies MLB team, Erickson has found that less than 60% of athletes with UCL and nerve issues return to pre-surgery levels of play. The fault, Erickson believes, lies in athletes who return to high levels of play too quickly after taking time to rest and rehab.
“If you’re shut down for four or five weeks,” said Erickson. “Then it will take four or five weeks to ramp back up.”
Even at the secondary school level, Taylor has a process in place to deal with elbow injuries in baseball players. Her three-pronged approach includes myofascial release, stretching/flexibility and strength work. She credited buy-in from coaches, athletes and parents to the success of her treatment plan.
“It goes back to basic education,” says Duffy. “If leagues and parents don’t have an educational arm, we want to do our best to reach out to them. We want to make sure they’re educated so that they know what will happen with their kids if they go down that path.”
At the end of NATA’s webinar, the panelists shared their tips on avoiding baseball-related injuries. Above all, panelists agreed, avoiding specializing in one sport was key to reducing injury risk. Baseball players of all levels should also commit to a warm-up routine, take at least six weeks off when injured, follow all pitching guidelines and focus on body mechanics, including posture, range of motion and flexibility.
