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Why Recreational Softball Players Really Take a Beating

We've talked about how using break-away bases during softball games can bring a dramatic increase in safety and prevent the majority of softball injuries. But other injuries are due more to the fault of the player than to equipment.

Base sliding injuries are usually acute problems - sprains, fractures, and the like - but that leaves lots of others. There are overuse injuries and injuries from doing unaccustomed activities, all of which are exacerbated because softball players usually do very little pre-game conditioning.

Think about it. In contrast to participants in other competitive sports - who spend most of their time training and comparatively little time actually competing - recreational softball players usually get their exercise during the games themselves.

As a result, simple activities such as sprinting on the base paths or throwing a ball from the outfield to home plate involve movements average players don't do in everyday life.

Even well-conditioned athletes, who do lots of running or cycling, aren't used to doing the more specialized activities required by softball. For example, jogging doesn't prepare you for flat-out sprinting.

So a substantial number of injuries occur as a result of these unaccustomed activities.

Their onset may not be as dramatic as sliding into an unyielding base (often players aren't aware they've injured themselves until the next morning), but these injuries can be bothersome and lasting.

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Over almost 20 years, the Center for Sports Medicine treated almost 900 softball injuries. About one-third involved the knee, followed by shoulder injuries at about 20 percent, muscle pulls and strains in the thigh, and ankle sprains.

Of the knee injuries, one-sixth were the result of inadequate strength in the quadriceps muscle and might have been prevented by a quadriceps conditioning program. (Many of the others were sprains or cartilage tears, some of which required arthroscopic surgery.)

Of the shoulder injuries, two-thirds were successfully treated by strengthening the injured area.

They, too, might have been prevented by conditioning programs and proper warm-ups. In many instances, the injuries required medical attention because they were initially ignored.

Pitchers' injuries don't play as large a role in recreational softball as they do in baseball or fastpitch softball. It's probably easier on the shoulder to throw a ball underhand rather than overhand, but of course by far the majority of softball games are slow-pitch. The less the speed and power, the easier it is on the shoulder and arm.

Of the thigh injuries, a portion were the result of inadequate warm-up - or no warm-up at all.

So, in general, a good prescription now for reducing your risk of softball injuries is warm up beforehand and stretch afterwards. For next year some preseason conditioning for softball specific activities would also help.

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Jogging for three to five minutes before the game is an effective way to tune up the thigh muscles.

Easy throwing for five to ten minutes before the game is usually sufficient to warm up your shoulder. Infield practice is not as effective because you don't get a chance to throw often enough.

Stretching beforehand is probably not as effective a way to prevent muscle pulls as is warming up - although ideally you should do both before playing - but gentle stretching afterwards will often prevent some morning-after aches and pains.

And don't ignore pain. If your shoulder begins hurting every time you throw the ball from center field, for example, playing the infield or even sitting out a couple of games might be a good idea. It's virtually impossible to "throw through" this type of problem.

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