Growth plate
We just shut our 11 year old down following some elbow pain and I am trying to understand the injury and what comes next a little better. The pain emerged over the course of a few weeks, started out in the upper arm, went away with some rest, then, after two practices, came back as sharp pain on the inside of the elbow. He will get an MRI, regardless of what it shows he is done throwing until next year. I understand this to be a growth plate injury, which is a function of overuse. He has only pitched in one game this fall, threw less than 50 pitches, does not play catcher. He did move up to 75’ bases and often plays on the left side of the infield so has been making more longer throws than usual in practice, in between innings, etc. I guess ipso facto if his elbow hurts he threw more than his body can handle, but it doesn’t feel like he has thrown a lot. I’m trying to learn more about where to go from here in terms of what other than rest he can do to avoid this happening again. Id love to hear about others’ experiences or things I can read to understand this better. The doctor he saw was not very helpful beyond telling us to shut it down, which seems obvious.