Yukan Fuji published a nice piece Monday about former Yakult Swallows pitcher Shohei Tateyama, a guest at a panel discussion that accompanied a coaching award event in Tokyo on Sunday.
The 38-year-old Tateyama, who said he was injury free as a teenager, went under the knife 10 times in his baseball career. He was joined by Dr. Kozo Furushima, the chief of the Sports Medical Center of Keiyu Orthopaedic Hospital in Tatebayashi, Gunma Prefecture.
Dr. Furushima has a fairly distressing slide show of the inner workings of young elbows and shoulders that have suffered severe damage through pitching and throwing too much.
“It’s hard to look at these images of children. But this is the reality. I want people to understand the reality because we must put an end to excessive pitching and throwing in practice.”
Former Yakult Swallows pitcher Shohei Tateyama, according to Yukan Fuji.
Commenting on the National High School Baseball Federation’s new rule limiting players to throwing 500 pitches over a seven-day period, Furushima said, “From the standpoint of injury prevention, it has no meaning, but from this people will begin to ask ‘Why is this rule necessary’ and begin a discussion.”
Here’s a Kyodo News interview in English with Dr. Furushima.
