The Importance of Pitch
Counts in Baseball
Baseball season is in full bloom; from
intramural level to major league to everything in between. This season also brings a surge of throwing
for youth sports. With this surge of
throwing, comes an increase in both shoulder and elbow pain. According to the High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance
Study, the majority of shoulder and elbow injuries occurred in pitchers. Twenty five percent of these injuries
resulted in missed time and about eleven percent resulted in season ending
injuries.
Due to the high prevalence of chronic overuse
injuries experienced by pitchers, it is important to follow specific pitch
count guidelines. According to the
National Federation of State High Schools, pitchers averaging eighty pitches a
game result in being more than four times as likely to need surgery. Pitchers throwing eight months during the
year are five times more likely to receive surgery and pitchers who throw until
fatigue regularly are thirty six times more likely to need surgery. Along with these statistics, overuse injuries
tend to occur most often in the first four weeks of the season, possibly due to
poor conditioning in the off season.
A
simple pitch count recommended for high school includes: 1-25 pitches requires
no day off from pitching, 26-45 requires one day off, 45-60 requires 2 days
off, 61-85 requires 3 days off, and 86-110 requires 4 days off. The pitcher should never exceed 110
pitches. Additional measures to prevent
shoulder and elbow injury include: watching for signs of fatigue (slower
pitching and decreased correct form), avoiding pitching for multiple teams and
overlapping baseball seasons, avoiding pitching and playing other positions in
the same game, and performing in different sports. This will prevent pitchers from straining one
set of specific muscle groups.
Finally
and most importantly, pitchers should
never pitch through fatigue or pain until being medically evaluated (possibly
by a physical therapist). The Physical
Therapy and Wellness Institute offers sports conditioning training to decrease
the chances of overuse shoulder and elbow injuries especially in the first four
weeks of the season. If an injury does
occur, our clinics have state of the art equipment to help you return to your
full level of pitching prior to injury and help you stay in condition for
future seasons.
PTW’s Bill Murrary , DPT is a Staff Physical Therapist at our Hatfield and Harleysville clinics. For an initial evaluation, call Bill at 267.932.9177 today!
