Late spring into early summer is one of the most common times we see shoulder and elbow injuries. A lot of parents often ask me what “warning signs” they should be looking for with their son or daughter’s arm pain. Most importantly they want to know if the pain is serious or not.

To a certain extent, we come from a place where we believe the motto “no pain, no gain”, and in some cases, I fully agree with that mindset. But at other times, this mindset can be very detrimental. How do you determine which pain is okay to play through and which pain is not? Here are four common arm pain areas to evaluate and guidelines to help you decide if your athlete should get the area checked out.

I hate seeing young athletes hurt.  There may not be a worse feeling than telling a young, energetic, baseball loving athlete they need stop playing for a while so we can get them through an injury.  Now, I appreciate there are some injuries that are completely unavoidable and these injuries are the nature of playing sports.