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Real Men Wear Gowns: Teens and baseball injuries

Teen baseball players can sometimes get overworked, leading to painful and sometimes permanent injuries.

Sports injuries become more common among kids as we head into spring, and that is especially the case with baseball and young men.

Meet 16-year-old Robert Sierra.

“I started playing baseball when I was 4 years old. All my other brothers played it," he said.

His favorite position is pitcher, and he’s played it for years.

"I was like, ‘Man, I want to pitch. I want to be a good pitcher,’" Sierra said.

He even played for two teams at a time while mastering his curveball. But that repetitive throwing motion became a problem.

"I threw a lot. Eventually, I hurt my elbow to where I couldn't throw any more,” Sierra described. “My arm had no strength. It would just go numb on me. Dead. I wouldn't be able to throw."

"If the coaches aren't going to pull them, I would hope the child has the ability to tell the coach themselves that they are ready to come out. But also the parents might have to be that person too," said Dr. Caitlyn Mooney, a University Health System primary care sports medicine physician.

She says that moving the injured player from pitcher to another position happens frequently, but that often doesn't solve the problem.

"Having the pitchers' other position being a very high-volume throwing position is discouraged," Dr. Mooney said.

That's exactly what happened to Sierra.

"I went to first [base]. I threw one ground ball and my arm popped and told my coach, ‘I can't throw no more,’" he said.

Sierra hurt his rotator cuff and the tendons around it. He was out for months. But after 10 weeks of therapy and some time off, his arm was back to 100 percent.

He has advice for other young players:

"Go to the doctor and get your arm checked. Make sure you are safe. Because I'm sure if I didn't get my arm checked out and I tried to play baseball and I really damaged it to where I couldn't play again, it could ruin my career.”

For more men's health information call 210-358-3045. You can also find the rest of our Real Men Wear Gowns stories at WearTheGown.com.

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