excuse all these questions but i find the responses to mine and others' threads as reliable and to the point as any i can find.

my question again is about a 9yo pitcher.

like most kids, he would throw and play until his arm falls off.

my question is: are there different responses a coach/parent should take to different types of pain? i kind of assume the answer is yes so: what types of pain are a red flag which you should have the player sit out and what types of pain are sort of normal when using a muscle often.

the soreness he feels today is on his throwing arm: to be specific i think it is called the deltoid muscle. where the shuolder makes its right angle toward the ground. if you were to put your left hand on the upper, outside of your right arm- that muscle.

it goes away once he starts to play.

i wonder if you rest a kid for any soreness? or is some soreness going to happen when playing ball? i know i always hurt when i play ball.

just wondering if anyone has opinion abt pitcher rest or over-the-top concerns.

tzz, be very careful with that area. My son though a little older (13) had what is known as little league shoulder. I don't know if this could affect a 9yr old but I don't see why not. It is basically an over use injury to the growth plate. Can be very serious if not taken care of. Just be aware of it and make sure he rests. My son didn't pitch a lot so we thought everything was fine the problem was he played a lot without any break, spring, summer, fall, then lessons and back to spring, no rest.

If it's a muscle that's sore it shouldn't be a huge deal. Have him rest it and the soreness should disappear. If he rests it and it doesn't get better, it time to start taking it more seriously.

Generally sore muscles aren't a huge worry, it's what's underneath 'e that keeps me up at night.

Particularly be concerned about any pain in or near the elbow. And in the shoulder itself.

Soreness in the bulk of the muscle can usually be quickly taken care of with some heat and rest.

I'll just add a little tidbit I read about a while back. I don't remember all the details, or where I read it, maybe someone else can add to this.

A college pitching coach developed a rating scale of 1 - 10, and each day asked his pitchers how their arm felt based on that scale. After a while a pattern develops where certain players average number is higher, some players average number is lower. Then he looks at the deviation from average and can begin to correlate that to bullpen or game performance, and more importantly arm health.

I wish I could remember where I read about this, because reading the original article would probably make more sense than my fractured recollection.

Soreness gets better with throwing. Pain gets worse, see a doc!