Here are some injury prevention tips from WellSpan Sports Medicine’s Justin Zabrosky, the athletic trainer with the York Revolution. These tips can help keep everyone from Little Leaguers and high school baseball players to weekend warriors injuryfree during pre-season and beyond.
Tip 1: Warm up and stretch!
Baseball is a game that involves a lot of twisting, jumping, lateral and forward-to-backward movements. Static stretching (stretching that is held for 10 or more seconds) does not reduce the risk of injury.
Instead athletes should be doing dynamic stretches that facilitate movements similar to those during play and targets muscle groups as they relate to specific sport movements. For baseball players, this means sprints, forward bends, rotations, knee lift, squats, lunges, arm circles and arm crosses.
In addition to raising muscular tissue temperature in the body and increasing blood flow, dynamic stretching activates the nervous system, preparing the body for movements performed during play.
Tip 2: Use proper equipment!
The amount of equipment required for baseball isn’t on par with football or hockey, but the right gear can go a long way toward preventing injuries. Athletic equipment consists of a batting helmet, proper footwear, athletic cup, shin guards and mouth piece. Coaches need to check athletes to make sure their equipment fits properly. Parents need to observe the equipment their athletes are wearing.
Tip 3: Overuse injuries are preventable!
Because many young athletes are focusing on just one sport and are training year-round, doctors are seeing an increase in overuse injuries. Specific tips to prevent overuse injuries in baseball include:
- Limit the number of teams in which your child is playing on in one season. Kids who play on more than one team are especially at risk for overuse injuries.
- Do not allow your child to play one sport year-round — taking regular breaks and playing other sports is essential to skill development and injury prevention.
- Do not allow your child to pitch on consecutive days and avoid pitching on multiple teams with overlapping seasons.
Tips 4: Inspect the field!
This tip is specifically for the coaches. To ensure the safety of your players, it is important to inspect the playing field for uneven terrain (holes, divots), glass and other debris.
In addition, use a field with breakaway bases. Many injuries occur while sliding into bases. In addition, assess weather conditions and be prepared to delay/cancel the game, especially in cases of particularly hot weather or thunderstorms with lightning.
Tip 5: Proper nutrition is key!
Baseball is a combination of balance, agility and concentration with bursts of physical activity. Food choices, adequate fluid intake, frequency of meals and timing of meals to activity can provide the edge in practice, games and recovery. The proper fuel mix contains 55-60% carbohydrates, 15-20% protein and 20-25% fat.
Tip 6: Drink water!
As an athlete trains or competes, fluid is lost through the skin through sweat and through the lungs while breathing. If this fluid is not replaced at regular intervals during practice or competition, it can lead to dehydration.
The best way to prevent dehydration is to maintain body fluid levels by consuming plenty of fluids before, during, and after a workout or competition.
Many times athletes wait to drink until they are thirsty. Thirst is not an accurate indicator of how much fluid an athlete has lost. Athletes who wait to replenish body fluids until feeling thirsty are already dehydrated.
Tip 7: Follow proper technique when sliding!
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons recommends the following tips for those individuals sliding into, as well as protecting, the bases while playing baseball and softball:
- Players under age 10 should not be taught to slide.
- Proper instruction in sliding technique must be taught and practiced before using any bag, including the breakaway bases. Practice should first be with a sliding bag.
- The “obstruction” rule must be taught and observed. Getting in the way of the runner or blocking the base without possession of the ball is dangerous to both the runner and fielder.
- When coming into home plate, it is important that the runner attempt to slide to avoid a collision.
To prevent ankle and foot injuries between the runner and fielder at first base, a “double bag” — a separate bag for both the runner and first baseman — should be used.