Has anyone heard or read anything about a player being more vulnerable to injury, especially arm injury, during or immediatley following a growth spurt?

Although I am not any kind of expert on the body, I've learned quite a bit because of my son's injury. Muscles are being stretched to keep up with the bones during a growth spurt and are weaker, which can be the cause of some injuries. It's important to stretch completely and correctly. I've learned that it's important to avoid overusing the same muscles for long periods of time.

Yes, the body is more vulnerable to injury during and soon after the growth spurt. Another thing that is prevalent is broken forearms as the body takes calcium from the middle of the long bones to put it on the ends for growth making for more fragile bones.

My son has had an injury due to a growth spurt. He had separated growth plates in his heels. The tendons in his legs did not stretch at the same rate that his bones grew. Therapy was lots of stretching and exercises to increase flexibility.

Concur with everyone. The muscles stretch because of rapid bone growth and become more taut. The insertion areas on the soft growth plates of the bones are put under a bit more stress and can actually pull away. I know of 5 kids who had serious growth plate injuries in their arms, hips, and shoulders because stress on the areas yanked a bit of bone when the muscle contracted too rapidly. Recovery time lasted from 1 year (hip injury) to 3 months (elbow.)