Any of your DD's have to give up pitching?

[xxxYerOut]

We may have hit a crossroad this week. DD has been pitching for 4 years, but has had trouble with her knees lately and might have to give it up. Anyone been through this?

DD started as an ice skater at 2-8 and I think her very young knees have taken a pounding. She is very sad.

[artomatic]

my kid (12 yr old) pitches, her left knee starting hurting last march, espcially during hurdles conditioning. doctor said nothing structurally wrong, probably growing pains.
about 2 months ago, she stopped complaining about her knee, and now she says it doesnt hurt anymore, so hopefully it was growing pains...good luck and hope you can find a solution.

[ntxsftbllnut]

My daughter has been pitching about the same amount of time. This fall she began to complain about pain in her knee. Dad basically said work through it but it continued. Went to the Doctor Xray's nothing looked wrong. Went to Physical Therapist. 4 to 5 weeks of specific exercises to strengthen muscles on front side of knee. Everything is back in order. According to what I've been told, pitchers need to spend more time on the front side muscles especially in relationship to the female's knee. Lots of leg lifts and band pulls. Started out without any ankle weights but add those after a couple weeks. Good Luck.

[2bucketdad]

Many times this pain is in the drag leg and can be caused by dragging with the foot flattened out sideways, instead of the toe pointed down...once they are in a habit of dragging that way for 4 years or however long, it is not real easy to change...

[xxxYerOut]

Many times this pain is in the drag leg and can be caused by dragging with the foot flattened out sideways, instead of the toe pointed down...once they are in a habit of dragging that way for 4 years or however long, it is not real easy to change...

That sounds like it could be part of the problem. She has struggled with that when things are not going well and had even put a hole in the side of her turf shoes when practicing indoors. She rarely has any trouble on the field, it usually happens when using a rubber mat indoors.

Our agreement has always been, if your not throwing on your own, I am not paying for lessons, so we try to get out at least twice before the lesson day. This being early in the season and coming off a longer than normal off-season, the mechanics are probably a little out of whack.

Between the bitter cold and fighting off the nasty flu bug, perhaps starting with the coach to fix the mechanical part will get her over the hump. She never made it to the lesson tweeking the knee during her 30 minute warm-up.

This has happened more than once, which is why we were fearing this could be the end.

[bradrhod]

If it is in the land leg, a source of the problem could be closing down the landing foot.

Either way, you shoudl ahve a competent pitching coach that is able to help you correct these mechanical issues.

Also, no need to panic and give up pitching for good. Many younger pitchers and players go through a bit of pain here and there, often to have it go away. You should definitely be working with a medical doctor that knows young sports injuries, and they will have the best advice.

I would recommend that any pitcher have a routine that includes plyometrics. They definitely help build the connective tissue and muscle. They also help offset the assymetric aspects of pitching.

[melsdad]

Many times this pain is in the drag leg and can be caused by dragging with the foot flattened out sideways, instead of the toe pointed down...once they are in a habit of dragging that way for 4 years or however long, it is not real easy to change...

Your DD drags with her toe down??????

[2bucketdad]

Many times this pain is in the drag leg and can be caused by dragging with the foot flattened out sideways, instead of the toe pointed down...once they are in a habit of dragging that way for 4 years or however long, it is not real easy to change...

Your DD drags with her toe down??????

We are working to make the drag less and less...instead of carving a hole in the dirt I'm looking for it to be more like jumpping over a large mud puddle and only getting the big toe alittle wet...