My Tricep Hurts After Baseball Pitching

Repeatedly throwing a baseball puts your arm under a lot of stress. This can lead to injuries common in the upper arm -- from the elbow, biceps, shoulder and the triceps muscle. Pain in the triceps after pitching can be a cause for concern or simply a normal part of pitching recovery which depends on the type and location of the pain.

Normal Soreness

It's common to feel pain or soreness in your shoulder and triceps area after you throw a lot of pitches. This pain should resemble the delayed-onset soreness that occurs in your muscles after you lift weights. Triceps soreness or pain should affect the muscles of the triceps and shoulder, but it should be felt in any tendons, bones or ligaments. This means that the soreness should not effect a pitcher while pitching, instead it generally shows up the next day and should not hurt unless you move the muscles of your triceps and shoulder.

Triceps Pain Near Elbow

Triceps pain around the elbow and any other pain near the elbow is cause for concern. This usually means that there is pain in the joint and not a muscle. According to Top Velocity, this pain can be a sign that your muscles are not strong enough or that you are not using proper pitching mechanics. Baseball Pitchers School notes that pain in the lower triceps can be caused by leading with the elbow or throwing across your body. Both scenarios are due to mechanical issues which means throwing with improper form or not using the body properly during the pitching motion. During the pitching motion, the form and mechanics should make your entire body work together -- failing to do so puts a lot of stress on the throwing arm.

Preventing Triceps Pain

One of the best things you can do to prevent arm pain is to study and work on perfecting your pitching mechanics. Make sure that your entire body is involved and you work in a straight line to your target. Limiting pitches early in the season until your arm strength is built up can help reduce the amount of delayed soreness you will feel. Top Velocity notes that strengthening exercises for the triceps like extensions or kickbacks can help prevent pain from muscle weakness. Coach Bill Thurston of Amherst College notes that it's important to stretch, warm-up and be in good cardiovascular shape before you pitch.

Getting Rid of Pain

You should rest your arm and not throw when you have pain in your triceps or anywhere else in the arm. As you rest it is important to ice the arm to reduce swelling and speed up the recovery process. You can still condition or run, which can also help speed up and get rid of the delayed onset lactic acid in your muscles. Stretching can help you reduce and speed up the healing process from muscle pain. For pain lower in the elbow rest is often the only solution.