Long term affect on broken radius in pitchng arm

#1

Spent the night in ER knowing the inevitable - his arm was broken. Broke the radius in his pitching arm about an inch from his wrist while playing bike tag at night. (I think this is where it is said, “Boys will be boys.”) Doing some research now to see what is the best approach for his arm to heal. Rest and wait. A little concerned about how this will affect his pitching from here on, but understand there’s no reason to worry about what we have no control over. He’s bummed that he blew his team’s chance to go to States this year, and that he doesn’t get another chance this year to throw his no-hitter, but he still has one more year of LL left.

Moral of the story - don’t let you baby grow up to play bike tag at night after fireworks. :wink:

#2

Yeah well, down the road the moral of the story might be…don’t keep your kid from playing bike tag with his friends because of what might happen and how it will affect baseball, because he might grow to hate baseball.

#3

My neighbor boy broke his lower arm when he was 8 and again when he was 9. I didn’t really know the family that well at this time. When he was 10 he was placed on the little league team I was helping to coach that year.

This team was a very young and inexperienced team with no kids on it that had pitched the year before. This boy (we will call him Dexter) was the best athlete on the team and took to the mound very well. He stayed at our house a lot that summer and begged daily to practice baseball any way, shape, and form. I would hit grounders to Dexter and my boy before work, after work, and we would practice pitching anytime we could sneak a few minutes to go to the park.

I check my pitchers arms and shoulders after they are done pitching very religiously. After about our last practice before the season started I noticed a little swelling about 4 inches above his wrist. When I told his parents about this is when I found out about him breaking his arm.

I monitored his pitch count super close every practice and every game! Iced his arm after every outing. He grew stronger and stronger as the year went on. Taught him the 2 seam, 4 seam, little off set cutter, circle change, and the straight change former cub Mike Proly taught me as a kid all in this first season of pitching. BUT, this kid had awesome body and footwork to go along with everything else. I am POSITIVE this is what allowed him to pitch so well and often as he did only a little over a year from his arm injury. Had the swelling persisted or arm showed extended tiredness or any pain I of course would of halted all pitching immediately!

That team went on to finish 10 and 6, mostly because of this kids pitching and great help from a lot of the parents getting involved during our practices.

Oh yeah, we faced the team Dexter is on this year a couple weeks ago and had the lead through 4 innings. Would of won too if not for a 12 y/o pitcher who came in for the final 3 innings and only allowed one run to cross the plate (one of the two we had on when he came in to pitch). Needless to say, Dexter was all smiles after this one, and the arm looks fine.

So have hope! But really monitor the arm. I am sure there are those on this sight who could can really help you out on this one.

Take care
dman

#4

Yeah well, down the road the moral of the story might be…don’t keep your kid from playing bike tag with his friends because of what might happen and how it will affect baseball, because he might grow to hate baseball.[/quote]

In a weird sense, the broken arm is a God send. He was getting bored. His last scrimmage game he swung at three pitches against his teammates, and all three went over 250. The week before he participated in a home run derby with the coaches and some of the high school players and held his own. No congratulatory from his teammates for the bombs. Just ho-hum. It’s expected. The 2nd baseman gets a little single to left and the team goes wild. The tournament catcher is afraid and in awe of catching him. This will give him a break from the game and time to consider whether he should move up to JH ball or stay another year in LL. He’s talked about this for the past few weeks. Bored. No challenge. Too easy. No friends. Etc. He was looking forward to dominating the 11U tournament, though. :slight_smile:

#5

We had a little fun this weekend. Instead of watching his team lose in the LL Section Finals in the sweltering heat, we went to the hitting cages for a few swings and to a Major League game. His cast comes off later this week, but he hopping to get back to playing ball - both hitting and pitching. He threw, with his cast on (no wrist action), about 20 pitches. The 1st few were fairly wild, but after a couple throws he adjusted well and hit the strike zones consistently. Clocked consistently at 58 with a peak at 59.

He’s been throwing in the back yard with his brother for the past week, and was hoping his team would win the Sections so he could play 1st base (no pitching) at States. He had fun, and even more fun telling everyone he broke his arm playing bike tag.

#6

[quote=“SomeBaseballDad”]
Yeah well, down the road the moral of the story might be…don’t keep your kid from playing bike tag with his friends because of what might happen and how it will affect baseball, because he might grow to hate baseball.[/quote]

He’s back to liking baseball. He’s playing 14U Fall Ball and has a 1.50 ERA in 10 innings pitched, and averaging 18 pitches per inning. Almost all FBs this fall. His strike out rate is down somewhat (1.75/inning), but his K:BB rate remains good at 4:1. Each game he has gotten more comfortable and gained better control with his pitches.

One more game before switching to basketball.

#7

How is your son doing?
My son is 14 and just broke his radius on his pitching arm. Season is over. Freshman starting pitcher and shortstop for jv team. Will have to wait till next year. But just wondering about your experience , what the expectations should be?
At the moment im expecting no pitching for 1 year . But I’m no expert. But most important hoping for 100% recovery.