Elbow Pain in Youth Athletes
Elbow pain in an adolescent (especially those who play baseball or softball) is not something to ignore or just throw ice on. This complaint by a child should be evaluated by a medical professional that specializes in sports injuries.
Little Leaguer’s Elbow is an injury to the medial elbow (inside of the elbow) caused by overuse and repetitive stress to the inside of the elbow.
Why can this be a serious complaint?
Because each child has a growth plate in the region that becomes injured with this condition!
Medial (inside) elbow pain affects 20-58% of youth baseball players. This injury has become more prevalent due to sport specialization (specifically year-round baseball competition and pitching).
Players at a young age are more susceptible to these type of injuries due to the body undergoing many developmental changes.
Baseball pitchers throwing more than 600 pitches per season increase their risk of this injury by more than double!
While most cases impact baseball players, the following are more sports commonly affected:
softball
tennis
racquetball
handball
javelin
water polo
gymnastics
weight lifting