In the last 15 or 20 years, there has been a surge of youth pitching injuries. Plus, we have seen a youth pitching injury, UCL injury, that only occurred in professional pitchers has now trickled down into high school and even youth pitchers.

There have been a number of proposed risk factors for youth pitching injury. More young pitchers pitch year-round without taking a season off to rest than ever. Kids often pitch for more than one team and throw more innings per year than ever. They even pitch through fatigue and pain, increasing their risk for shoulder and elbow injuries.

The good news is that these youth pitching injuries are almost always overuse injuries, so we can prevent them. In this video, I discuss how parents and coaches need to take steps to limit how much these kids pitch to keep them on the field and out of the doctor’s office.

Youth pitching injury

In my new book, That’s Gotta Hurt: The Injuries That Changed Sports Forever, I discuss Tommy John surgery and how it has grown along with an epidemic of injuries at the youth level. If you have kids who play baseball or other youth sports, you should read it and take steps to keep your kids healthy. Click here to get it!

How can we reverse the trend of increasing injuries among youth pitchers and other overhead athletes? Please share your ideas below!

Also read:
4 risk factors for youth pitching injuries
Ask Dr. Geier – Preventing youth pitching injuries

Recommended Products and Resources
Click here to go to Dr. David Geier’s Amazon Influencer store!
Due to a large number of questions I have received over the years asking about products for health, injuries, performance, and other areas of sports, exercise, work and life, I have created an Amazon Influencer page. While this information and these products are not intended to treat any specific injury or illness you have, they are products I use personally, have used or have tried, or I have recommended to others. THE SITE MAY OFFER HEALTH, FITNESS, NUTRITIONAL AND OTHER SUCH INFORMATION, BUT SUCH INFORMATION IS DESIGNED FOR EDUCATIONAL AND INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THE CONTENT DOES NOT AND IS NOT INTENDED TO CONVEY MEDICAL ADVICE AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE. YOU SHOULD NOT RELY ON THIS INFORMATION AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR, NOR DOES IT REPLACE, PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE, DIAGNOSIS, OR TREATMENT. THE SITE IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ACTIONS OR INACTION ON A USER’S PART BASED ON THE INFORMATION THAT IS PRESENTED ON THE SITE. Please note that as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.