Youth sports can be a great way for kids to stay active, meet new friends and learn lifelong lessons, but it can also lead to injuries, especially if kids (and their parents) push things a little too far while their bodies are still developing. One condition we’ve seen more frequently in recent years is what’s known as “little league shoulder.” Little league shoulder, also referred to in the medical world as proximal humeral epiphysitis, is an issue that affects the upper portion of an athlete’s throwing arm, just before the shoulder. In today’s blog, we take a closer look at little league shoulder, why it develops and how Dr. Holloway can help treat the condition.
What Is Little League Shoulder?
In your body, your bones grow from areas called growth plates. These growth plates are made up of cartilage cells, which are important for helping with bone formation and growth, but these cells are also softer and more vulnerable to injury than mature bones. In your arm, there is a growth plate on the end of your humerus closest to the shoulder. It’s normal for a growing child’s arms and shoulders to be stressed, and your body can typically repair normal stress to the growth plate. However, in kids with little league shoulder, they don’t give their arms enough rest to adequately heal, leading to inflammation and growth plate irritation.
As you can likely infer, little league shoulder is most common in baseball players, but it can develop in any athlete that overuses their arms without adequate rest periods, like golfers, tennis players and gymnasts. It also tends to be more common in athletes who only specialize in one sport or in those who participate in the same sport year round.
The root cause of proximal humeral epiphysitis is overuse without adequate rest periods. Little league baseball players who pitch too frequently or who are practicing, playing league games and then playing travel tournaments on the weekend are especially prone to little league shoulder, as are athletes with poor throwing mechanics. Besides pain in the shoulder and upper arm when throwing, symptoms of little league arm include:
- Tenderness
- Swelling
- Decreased throwing speed or accuracy
Diagnosing And Treating Little League Shoulder
Your primary care physician or shoulder specialist can diagnose little league shoulder with the help of a comprehensive physical exam and some imaging tests. The physical exam will likely show all the above symptoms of proximal humeral epiphysitis, but an X-ray can confirm their suspicions because the X-ray will show a widening or abnormal growth plate in the upper humerus.
Little league shoulder usually responds very well to a combination of conservative treatment techniques. While rest is obviously key, you also need to make sure that rest becomes a key component of their athletic schedule going forward. Many baseball leagues have rules that help to limit pitch counts, but if you’re playing in league and travel tournaments, or you’re doing pitching camps on the weekends, it’s easy to go over these restrictions. Be in constant communication with your child about their arm health, and be sure they are taking some time off to rest their arm between games and practices. Many athletes find that icing their arm after a pitching performance helps to control inflammation and swelling, regardless of whether or not it is tied to proximal humeral epiphysitis.
Some athletes find that their condition resolves when they become more cognizant of giving their arm enough rest after strenuous arm activities, but others may need some more hands-on care. The most common treatment for athletes who need additional care is physical therapy. Physical therapy will help to strengthen their arm and shoulder complex so that it can better handle the stress they put on it, and it can improve their throwing mechanics to ensure they aren’t unknowingly putting extra strain on their shoulder as a result of inefficient form. Paired together, rest and physical therapy can almost always help an athlete put their proximal humeral epiphysitis behind them and ensure that it doesn’t return down the road.
If your child is dealing with shoulder soreness or pain, consider syncing up with Dr. Holloway. It could be a case of little league shoulder, or it may be another issue that requires a different treatment path. Either way, we’ll be happy to help your child overcome their shoulder issue so that they can get back to doing all the activities they love without discomfort. For more information or for help with a shoulder issue of your own, reach out to Dr. Holloway’s office today at (865) 410-7887.
