CHICAGO -
In tonight's cover story ... America's pastime is back. But doctors say it's past time that parents and players pay attention to the potential for injury. Baseball and softball can be life threatening and life altering.
The sound brings you back. After a long winter, getting out on the field, or settling into the stands is like bringing life to summer. But in the first game of the season Maurice Davenport lost his life in a little league game ... hit in the chest with a ball.
James T. Doherty, Director of Trauma and Critical Care Services, Advocate Christ Medical Center: "There is a trauma to the chest wall from an object which occurs at a certain point in the cardiac cycle which causes a disruption to the normal electrical activity of the heart. When that occurs the patient will usually lose their blood pressure and go into acute cardiac arrest."
Maurice's heart needed a shock. A portable defibrilaltor was nearby in the field house at the park. No one used it.
Dr. Doherty: "The best thing you can do for that patient is early defibrillation."
Sean Morley knows all too well. He lost three days after a little league game. He doesn't remember before or after the hit. But he knows what happened.
Sean Morley, Hit by a Pitch: "I was up to bat and a pitch just kinda came inside and I turned my body open to it and it just struck me right in the chest."
A fast acting police officer with a defibrillator in his squad car immediately simply followed the directions.
James T. Doherty, Director of Trauma and Critical Care Services, Advocate Christ Medical Center: "The machine will analyze the rhythm and determine whether this is a rhythm that requires electrical activity to correct.
Sean: "The statistics show that if the defibrillator's there and people are there on time that the survival rate just jumps dramatically."
He's living proof and says he hopes all fields will invest in the box for life. But what about chest protectors?
Dr. Doherty: "I'd like to say that body armour helps but the literature shows that about 25% of the fatal instances of this injury have occurred when patients had chest protectors on."
Sean says he'd wear any safety gear that worked ... just to play the game.
"I would never stop playing sports because this happened, that's who I am."
I interviewed Sean in the hospital on that fateful day ... he got hit and shocked. Today he says he worries less about the rare injury he suffered and more about the more common threats.
Sean: "Ankle sprains, broken bones."
The injuries that don't just hit baseball players.
Peaches James: "Growing up playing, you know, you mainly heard about a lot of baseball injuries with elbow and rotator cuffs and you didn't really hear a lot, a lot of softball injuries."
Baseball rules limit the pitching count for young players ... adding little by little as they get bigger. Softball is softer on regulations even thought it is not softer on the body.
Dr. Nikhil Verma, Rush University Medical Center, Orthopedic Surgeon: :The windmill pitch in particular, as opposed to the overhand throw, puts a lot of stress on the biceps muscle."
Peaches James felt the pain but persisted anyway. then one day a snap. it threw her chances for the season but she knew if she called herself out... she may have a chance to return to the field.
Peaches James, former pro softball player: "I was rehabbing and things like that. And I then started to pitch again at maybe about 50 to 75 percent."
She threw, and she tore her bicep.
Dr. Nikhil Verma, Rush University Medical Center, orthopedic surgeon: "She had an inflamation of the tendon that ultimately resulted in the tendon portion of the bicep's rupturing. And so what needed to be done was the tendon needed to be re-attached to the bone.
The surgical repair got peaches back on the mound. Though she now knows the importance if listening to her body. And doctors say they can look at the effects. At Rush University Medical Center they analyze the throw, and the stress on the muscles. Using markers on the arms, doctors catch the motion.
Idubijes Roja, Rush Research Engineer: "The phases between both throwing motions have similarities, there is acceleration and deceleration between both and through out those phases we can see the different changes of muscle activity."
First the windmill pitch.
"And this is for the overhand throwing motion. It's about half of what occurred during the windmill pitch."
Knowing what happens with one pitch, it's clear to see how too many will throw out the arm ... either overuse in one game, or over the years of a growing child. Knowledge is power to prevent injury and heal faster. In the lab doctors really saw that technique was key and that's why proper training is so important beginning at a young age... and of course teaching kids to tell you when they hurt... the pain is a message.
The sound brings you back. After a long winter, getting out on the field, or settling into the stands is like bringing life to summer. But in the first game of the season Maurice Davenport lost his life in a little league game ... hit in the chest with a ball.
James T. Doherty, Director of Trauma and Critical Care Services, Advocate Christ Medical Center: "There is a trauma to the chest wall from an object which occurs at a certain point in the cardiac cycle which causes a disruption to the normal electrical activity of the heart. When that occurs the patient will usually lose their blood pressure and go into acute cardiac arrest."
Maurice's heart needed a shock. A portable defibrilaltor was nearby in the field house at the park. No one used it.
Dr. Doherty: "The best thing you can do for that patient is early defibrillation."
Sean Morley knows all too well. He lost three days after a little league game. He doesn't remember before or after the hit. But he knows what happened.
Sean Morley, Hit by a Pitch: "I was up to bat and a pitch just kinda came inside and I turned my body open to it and it just struck me right in the chest."
A fast acting police officer with a defibrillator in his squad car immediately simply followed the directions.
James T. Doherty, Director of Trauma and Critical Care Services, Advocate Christ Medical Center: "The machine will analyze the rhythm and determine whether this is a rhythm that requires electrical activity to correct.
Sean: "The statistics show that if the defibrillator's there and people are there on time that the survival rate just jumps dramatically."
He's living proof and says he hopes all fields will invest in the box for life. But what about chest protectors?
Dr. Doherty: "I'd like to say that body armour helps but the literature shows that about 25% of the fatal instances of this injury have occurred when patients had chest protectors on."
Sean says he'd wear any safety gear that worked ... just to play the game.
"I would never stop playing sports because this happened, that's who I am."
I interviewed Sean in the hospital on that fateful day ... he got hit and shocked. Today he says he worries less about the rare injury he suffered and more about the more common threats.
Sean: "Ankle sprains, broken bones."
The injuries that don't just hit baseball players.
Peaches James: "Growing up playing, you know, you mainly heard about a lot of baseball injuries with elbow and rotator cuffs and you didn't really hear a lot, a lot of softball injuries."
Baseball rules limit the pitching count for young players ... adding little by little as they get bigger. Softball is softer on regulations even thought it is not softer on the body.
Dr. Nikhil Verma, Rush University Medical Center, Orthopedic Surgeon: :The windmill pitch in particular, as opposed to the overhand throw, puts a lot of stress on the biceps muscle."
Peaches James felt the pain but persisted anyway. then one day a snap. it threw her chances for the season but she knew if she called herself out... she may have a chance to return to the field.
Peaches James, former pro softball player: "I was rehabbing and things like that. And I then started to pitch again at maybe about 50 to 75 percent."
She threw, and she tore her bicep.
Dr. Nikhil Verma, Rush University Medical Center, orthopedic surgeon: "She had an inflamation of the tendon that ultimately resulted in the tendon portion of the bicep's rupturing. And so what needed to be done was the tendon needed to be re-attached to the bone.
The surgical repair got peaches back on the mound. Though she now knows the importance if listening to her body. And doctors say they can look at the effects. At Rush University Medical Center they analyze the throw, and the stress on the muscles. Using markers on the arms, doctors catch the motion.
Idubijes Roja, Rush Research Engineer: "The phases between both throwing motions have similarities, there is acceleration and deceleration between both and through out those phases we can see the different changes of muscle activity."
First the windmill pitch.
"And this is for the overhand throwing motion. It's about half of what occurred during the windmill pitch."
Knowing what happens with one pitch, it's clear to see how too many will throw out the arm ... either overuse in one game, or over the years of a growing child. Knowledge is power to prevent injury and heal faster. In the lab doctors really saw that technique was key and that's why proper training is so important beginning at a young age... and of course teaching kids to tell you when they hurt... the pain is a message.
