The Epidemic of Arm Injuries in Youth Baseball and How To Avoid and Address the Threat

BEAR, DE, April 25, 2013

Paul Niggebrugge, Founder of Be Your Best Academy and the 2012 recipient "Collegiate News Teaching Professional Of The Year For Pitching" expresses his concern over the growing epidemic of elbow/ shoulder injuries in young baseball players. "The amount of elbow/ shoulder surgeries among young baseball players is alarming. We, as coaches and parents, must concentrate on education, prevention and training to reduce this growing epidemic," said Mr. Niggebrugge.

Glen Fleisig et. al.at the American Sports Medicine Institute (article from 2009 entitled Prevention of Elbow Injuries in Youth Baseball Pitchers) has noted that from 1994-1998, 7% of Tommy John surgeries (UCL reconstructions) were performed on young to high school aged players. From 2004-2008, that number has jumped to 26%.

A study by Harada et al. from Japan (published in 2010, titled- Risk Factors of Elbow Injuries Among Young Baseball Players) determined that 38% (114/294) of the subjects experienced elbow pain while throwing.

According to 2011 University of North Carolina's Dept. of Exercise & Sport Science Arm Injury Study, one (1 ) out of five ( 5) little league (8-13 year olds) reported pain in the elbow and/or shoulder in the previous 12 months. This pain in the developing arm of a youth athlete could go undiagnosed and cause permanent damage to the rising athlete.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission reported 400,000 baseball related injuries that were treated in physicians offices, hospitals and emergency rooms in 2010...70% of those seen were under the age of 18 years old.

Paul teams up with Jeff Simpson of Sport Specific Training LLC, to offer a great video training series that every young baseball player, parent and coach should know on how to avoid arm injuries. In this video training, Paul Niggebrugge and Jeff Simpson give exercises and drills as well as explaining the overall conditioning necessary to prevent elbow/shoulder injuries.

This video training series is of no cost and is available at http:// BeyourBestAcademy.com