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Why "Just Watch the Pitch Count" Doesn't Protect a Throwing Arm, and the After-Throwing Step Baseball Parents Are Actually Using

 

Fact-checked by sports-medicine research

Dr. Ryan Miller, PT
June 4th, 2025

I'm Karen. 41, from Ohio.

And for two seasons, my son's shoulder was the thing I couldn't fix.

Not for lack of trying. We had the pitch count app. J-Bands before every practice, $35, never skipped. An ice wrap, $30, fought about more nights than not.

The shoulder rub stayed. Honestly, it got more frequent.

By the ride home after almost every practice, Brody's hand was already on the same spot. "I'm good," he'd say, same flat tone, before I'd even asked.

I told myself it was normal. I told myself the bands meant we were covered.

"We're doing everything right, so how is this still happening? Is this just part of baseball now?" I genuinely thought that was the answer.

See what closed the gap for us

What Even the Bands and Ice Missed

An orthopedist looked at his shoulder for about a minute.

"Overuse strain, early stage. Three weeks, no throwing. We'll recheck after."

We had a tournament in eight days.

As if knowing that made it easier.

What nobody had explained to me is that a full arm-care routine and a real diagnosis can happen at the exact same time. It's not about effort. It's about what the routine was actually covering:

  • Pitch counts track the mound, not warmups, long toss, infield throws, or backyard reps. All of it loads the same shoulder.
  • The shoulder doesn't just throw the ball forward. After every release, it has to actively brake the arm. The scorebook counts pitches. His shoulder counts everything.
  • Biofreeze and similar rubs are counter-irritants. They distract the brain with a cold sensation on the skin. Temporarily. The muscle underneath is never touched. Calcium fires it, magnesium relaxes it back down, two completely different systems.

A full routine built entirely around before throwing, with nothing for after, will still leave a gap. That's why nothing was actually closing it.

 

The Conversation That Actually Changed Things

Another mom at the field had mentioned, weeks earlier, that her son's shoulder had stopped coming home sore.

I asked what she'd changed.

She said, "We stopped looking for a stronger rub and started looking at what happens after he's done throwing."

She told me what to look for before she ever said a brand name: magnesium chloride, a cream, not a spray, enough contact time to actually matter, no harsh menthol burn.

I ordered LeStrova Magnesium Relief Cream that night.

 

What Happened After We Started

Week 1: Applied after practice, post-shower. He waited for the sting out of habit. Nothing. No fight.

Week 2: He asked where the jar was before I'd said anything.

Month 1: The jar lived next to his cleats. Not something I had to go find.

Month 2: Pitch counts during. Bands before. Rest when something feels real. A doctor if it ever happens again. LeStrova after every throwing day, not just the hard ones.

I want to be clear about something. This did not treat Brody's diagnosis, and it would not have prevented it. That's not its job. If your kid has sharp pain, swelling, or anything beyond ordinary soreness, that's a doctor's visit, not a jar of cream. What changed for us was everything after that, the ordinary practice days, the ones nothing was ever built for.

 

This Isn't a Miracle. It's Just the Step We Never Had.

Two categories were all we'd had for two seasons. Long-term arm care, or waiting for the next appointment.

I built a third one.

If your kid already has a full routine and still ends up with the same shoulder rub every week. If you're tired of guessing whether you're doing enough. If "we followed the pitch count" hasn't been enough of an answer.

This is the step we'd been missing the whole time.

It's available now.

With hope, Karen, Ohio

 

Do Not Just Take Our Word For It

10,839 Ratings
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Jessica M.
My son barely pitches. He plays second base. I never counted his actual throwing volume across warmups and infield work until I understood the brake phase. We use it after every throwing day now.
187
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Chris D.
We were icing most nights and it had turned into an actual fight. First week with this, the fight just stopped.
259
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Sarah W.
Wish I'd understood the before-versus-after gap a season earlier. It's such a simple shift once you actually see it.
503
Like Reply 53d
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