This descriptive epidemiological study surveyed 203 actively competing youth baseball players in New York and New Jersey about the frequency, severity, and psychosocial impact of arm pain. It was designed to go beyond simple presence/absence of pain and capture performance limitations and social pressures. The central question: how much arm pain do 'healthy' youth players actually experience, and what are its consequences?
Prior studies on youth baseball arm pain simply asked whether pain was present or absent during the season. No study had quantified the psychosocial pressure, performance impact, or the gap between self-reported wellness and actual symptom prevalence.
The key clinical takeaway: when a youth pitcher tells you he feels fine, do not stop there. This paper shows that only 11% of players call themselves 'playing with pain,' while 74% report arm pain on direct questioning. Screening questionnaires that ask specifically about pain frequency, performance limitation, and social pressure will identify players who are silently at risk.
When evaluating a youth pitcher, ask explicitly whether coaches or parents have encouraged continued play through pain. Players with prior overuse injury are twice as likely to face this pressure — and those are precisely the athletes who cannot afford to play through another injury cycle.
Pitchers reporting pain 'often' or 'always' the day after throwing (25% of the pitcher cohort here) represent the highest-risk subgroup and should trigger a structured conversation about pitch counts, rest periods, and avoidance of simultaneous multi-league participation.
This descriptive epidemiological study surveyed 203 actively competing youth baseball players in New York and New Jersey about the frequency, severity, and psychosocial impact of arm pain. It was designed to go beyond simple presence/absence of pain and capture performance limitations and social pressures. The central question: how much arm pain do 'healthy' youth players actually experience, and what are its consequences?
Prior studies on youth baseball arm pain simply asked whether pain was present or absent during the season. No study had quantified the psychosocial pressure, performance impact, or the gap between self-reported wellness and actual symptom prevalence.
The key clinical takeaway: when a youth pitcher tells you he feels fine, do not stop there. This paper shows that only 11% of players call themselves 'playing with pain,' while 74% report arm pain on direct questioning. Screening questionnaires that ask specifically about pain frequency, performance limitation, and social pressure will identify players who are silently at risk.
When evaluating a youth pitcher, ask explicitly whether coaches or parents have encouraged continued play through pain. Players with prior overuse injury are twice as likely to face this pressure — and those are precisely the athletes who cannot afford to play through another injury cycle.
Pitchers reporting pain 'often' or 'always' the day after throwing (25% of the pitcher cohort here) represent the highest-risk subgroup and should trigger a structured conversation about pitch counts, rest periods, and avoidance of simultaneous multi-league participation.