When spring rolls around, it can only mean one thing - it's baseball season! However, playing every day or every weekend in tournaments that span whole weekends can cause lots of strain on an athlete's body.
Andrew Smith, a baseball coach, and writer at thebatnerds.com, shares valuable insight on what causes baseball injuries. Moreover, he shares how little league baseball players can steer clear of injuries and stay healthy all season long.
Baseball injuries are an unpleasant fact of life that can't be entirely avoided. If there were a way, big league Baseball teams who continuously fork out millions of dollars to remain on the bench injured would undoubtedly have found it.
Fatigue is the number one cause of injury. Look out for the tell-tale signs of fatigue because it can prevent serious baseball injuries.
Fatigue is caused by several things: playing all year round, playing in multiple situations (e.g. pitcher and catcher in the same game), high pitch count, lack of sleep, and bad diet.
Fortunately, the signs of fatigue are quite evident. Parents should keep an eye out for these, as a sign that their young star is experiencing burn out.
— Sudden loss of interest
— Continued complaints of soreness or muscle strain.
— Reduced performance
— Slow reaction time
— Decreased speed of movement or pitches
Nonetheless, there are three common injuries in Little League baseballthat we can take a look at protecting against or, at best, reduce the seriousness.
Blisters are the number one injury in Little League Baseball, and these come about as a result of inflammation caused by gear rubbing against the skin, which then causes the 1st layer of skin to separate from the 2nd layer. The body, after that, produces sebum to load the gap between both skin layers in order to secure the injury from more damages.
Getting the right gear, like the correct pair of baseball cleats, for instance, should help prevent getting blisters. However, once the sore has occurred, the very first concern is to stop further injury by making use of powders and anti-irritation gels.
If the blister isn't as severe, you can let it heal on its own. However, if, by any chance, you notice that there's pus oozing out of it, are in severe discomfort, or there are signs of infection, the bister (now a wound) should be drained with a sterile needle to get all the pus out. Afterward, you should then apply some antibacterial lotion onto it, then tie the up the wound with a bandage.
Little league elbowis a common injury that affects players that are yet to hit puberty. It is caused by throwing too many pitches in a short period of time. Should this happen, stop all throwing exercises and take a break. Depending on the severity, use ice every 20 mins every hour for 4 or 5 hours to reduce any kind of swelling.
To avoid little league elbow, keep an eye on the number of pitches your players throw. Keep it at no more than 100 pitches a week.
Muscle strain tops the list of the three main injuries in little league baseball. Practicing on the right fielding and running techniques is the best approach to try and protect against these kinds of injuries.
The level of the strain determines the treatment of the injury. A mild strain might be treated with ice packs rotated every 20 minutes or so for a period of 8 hrs. To decrease the swelling, raise the leg with muscle strain above your torso or your heart.
With that being said, if you're playing on a pitch that you're unfamiliar with, set aside some time to walk around the field to look for any gaping holes or unleveled ground that could cause you to turn your ankle.
As with all injuries, please seek a doctor's opinion if the bruise or sprain is severe.
