With baseball season on the horizon, players at all levels soon will begin practicing to be ready once the games start. It’s also good practice for players to understand their risk for shoulder injuries that can develop from baseball-related activities.
As an experienced pain management specialist, Steve Grossinger, DO, offers a variety of conservative therapies to ease chronic shoulder pain. If you’re a baseball player, he also has the resources to help you reduce your risk for common shoulder injuries during the season.
One of the biggest stressors on a baseball player’s shoulders, especially for pitchers, is overhead throwing.
Whenever you throw a ball, your muscles and tendons work together to give you range of motion. Too much pressure on these soft tissues from repeated high-speed pitches can lead to tissue tears that worsen over time and eventually rupture.
Other common baseball shoulder injuries include:
Another common baseball-related shoulder injury occurs in the rotator cuff, the four muscles that come together to form a protective cuff over the shoulder joint. A tear or rupture of the rotator cuff can be extremely painful and make it difficult for you to lift your arm over your head.
You might also develop other complications. Because the rotator cuff holds your shoulder joint in place, a tear or rupture may put you at increased risk of dislocations or shoulder instability.
If you play a lot of baseball, you may be at risk of your shoulder weakening due to repetitive stress and changes that occur with age. Some athletes develop osteoarthritis, a wear-and-tear condition that breaks down the protective cartilage in your shoulder joint.
Other common baseball throwing injuries that can develop include impingement, a condition where the humeral head and glenoid bones of the joint trap and pinch the tendons at the back of your shoulder. Impingement can also increase your risk for rotator cuff tears.
If you notice your shoulder’s range of motion isn’t what it used to be or if you have persistent shoulder pain that you can’t treat at home, Dr. Grossinger can help.
The earlier you seek treatment for shoulder pain, the less likely it is to get worse. Early treatment can also help you avoid surgery.
Dr. Grossinger uses on-site X-rays and other diagnostic imaging tests to accurately diagnose the cause of your shoulder pain. He also performs a comprehensive physical exam of your shoulder to assess your range of motion and joint flexibility.
When Dr. Grossinger creates a treatment plan for your shoulder pain, his primary goal is to ease your symptoms as quickly as possible, so you can get back to the game you love.
In addition to medications to relieve inflammation and pain, he offers regenerative medicine therapies like platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and stem cell injections, which encourage your body to heal itself from the inside out.
Regenerative medicine therapy can also reduce your reliance on pain medications as your shoulder heals.
To restore range of motion in your shoulder joint and strengthen the muscles that support your joint, Dr. Grossinger can refer you for physical therapy. He can also recommend exercises you can do during baseball warmups to lower your risk for painful injuries.
If you’re out of the game because of a shoulder injury, call the office of Steven Grossinger, DO, nearest you, in Wilmington, Delaware, or Springfield, Pennsylvania, to schedule a pain management consultation or book an appointment online today.
