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Elbow and Shoulder Injury Epidemic
By Mike Detillier
Dr. Frank Jobe and Dr. James Andrews have revolutionized the medical field with new procedures to repair elbow and shoulder injuries in sports. Doctors do a great job explaining the details of sports injuries, but what we are seeing now in youth sports is an epidemic of shoulder and elbow injuries to athletes from 13 to 17 years old.
Dr. Jason Higgins from Ortho-LA, an orthopedic surgeon on the active staff at Thibodaux Regional Medical Center, addressed a large group of area coaches and athletic trainers on the high number of shoulder and elbow injuries occurring in athletes in baseball, volleyball and tennis.
“We have made great strides medically with procedures on the elbow and shoulder to put that weekend athlete and certainly the high school, college and professional player back out on the field, but we are seeing so much today teens with major injuries to both the elbow and shoulder due to overwork and lack of rest and not an injury that occurs out on the field, “Higgins said.
“The elbow reconstructive surgery or what is referred to as Tommy John surgery, is common today among college and professional athletes, most notably in baseball. It was first performed in the mid-1970’s by Dr. Frank Jobe and the surgery has a high success rate. The success rate is not as high on shoulder reconstructive injuries due to the many mechanics involved. Dr. James Andrews has done a great job getting a higher success rate with his process throughout the years, but even today elbow surgery has a higher success rate than to a shoulder. But so many of these injuries to younger players can be prevented and the process we go through along with the help of the athletic trainers at Thibodaux Regional Medical Center has helped get the message about care of the young overhead arm athletes.”
Higgins, who specializes in arthroscopic and reconstructive surgery of the shoulder and elbow, says there is a 7-fold increase over the last 10 years to elbow and shoulder injuries with 3.5 million young athletes 14 years old and younger participating in sports.
"It's a much bigger problem today than ever before with the overhand athletes in baseball, tennis and volleyball," Higgins said. "Athletes today with a better diet and more strength training are bigger, stronger and faster than ever before, but body development takes its own course.
Many of these injuries are preventable and we must realize athletes female wise are still growing from 14 to 17 years and in males 16 to 18 years old. 50% of these injuries can be prevented with proper warm-up and stretching techniques, athletes using proper techniques in their respective sport, a good strength program, a limited pitch count and limiting the type pitches young athletes throw in baseball, but the most important point is allowing for the proper rest of the shoulder and elbow."
Higgins says that he encourages the proper rest to overhand strike athletes and also encourages them to be multi-sport athletes.
"We live in the world of specialization in sports, but as a doctor and working with athletic trainers at Thibodaux Regional Sports Medicine Center we need to better educate and communicate with the coaches and parents and support the athlete to participate in more than one sport. Be smart with our youth playing sports and have them participate in more than one sport. With teenage athletes you still have people growing and tendons and ligaments are venerable to fatigue type injuries."
At the top of the list of elbow and shoulder injuries are baseball pitchers and no defined pitch count to restrict them from pitching in short periods of time.
"In baseball you have the season itself, but for many players and most of the very best they have travel ball and all-star baseball leagues," Higgins said. "You have pitchers throwing full speed 8 to 9 months out of the year and many of those pitchers, even though the biomechanics are different, are also quarterbacks in junior high school and high school. With pitching fatigue you have a 360% higher chance of surgery than the regular athlete and for many they are burnt out with the game. Some of the very best players are getting hurt or just dropping out of the sport itself. Studies show that 70% of kids 13 years old are dropping out of the game due to an injury or burn out. "
Jennifer Hale, a sports reporter for Fox Sports says she has seen and heard of many stories of young athletes injured in the growth period of their lives.
"I cover professional athletes in their 20's and older, but you hear horror stories about injuries from teens that affect their career and some just drop the sport all together. It's not enjoyable for them anymore. We have to recognize this is not college or professional sports, but a fun time for athletes and the training area for so many to work and associate with others. We hear so much about injuries to male athletes, but now with so many more women involved in sports I hear about so many major injuries to young ladies in their teens."
Hale, who is a spokesperson for Thibodaux Regional Medical Center, says that proper education is the key to recognizing injuries from young athletes.
"Young athletes want to play and they feel great peer pressure to perform. That is where communication between the coach, parent, athletic trainer and doctor has to form that gauntlet to keep them from these major injuries. The athletic training staff at the Sports Medicine Center of Thibodaux Regional Medical Center provides that important service to the community in nurturing a strong trust factor."
One area that has seemingly grown and will increase the amount of shoulder and elbow injuries is the fact that quarterbacks playing in the fall and in spring football are also involved in the 7-on-7 camps during the summer.
"There is no question in the next few years that area of the game of football will have many more shoulder and elbow injuries due to the wear and tear of playing football year round and not getting the proper rest, and we will see more fatigue tendon injuries and rotator-cuff injuries. Throwing a baseball and throwing a football puts stress in different areas, but fatigue injuries will increase in football due to almost year round play. We have to be very careful in getting that proper rest for a young respective quarterback’s arm and shoulder" Higgins said.
Larry D'Antoni, the coordinator of sports medicine at Thibodaux Regional Medical Center, says that repetition, rest and rehab are the keys to prevent injuries to the shoulder and elbow.
"Our job as athletic trainers is to inform the parents and educate the coaches," D'Antoni said. "Coaches and athletic trainers at schools understand there is a big difference between pain and injury, but we really emphasize doing the smart thing with athletes with injuries. We have built a certain trust with them and so the coaches take our preventative advice with athletes. As an athletic trainer you fully understand there is great pressure to win for coaches and kids really want to play, but our job is to make sure we are doing what is right for the young man or young woman in any sport. It is something we really stress here as a group at Thibodaux Regional Medical Center to do what is best for the young man or young lady not only for today, but in their future.”
Follow Mike on Twitter at @MikeDetillier