ISMI Interview: Dr. Scot Scheffel

The Idaho Sports Medicine Institute was started by George A. Wade, MD in 1978. Dr. Scot Scheffel is the primary team physician and has been a member of the ISMI staff since 2000.

In a one-on-one interview with Dr. Scheffel, we asked him about how he got started as a sports physician and some of the more common injuries that baseball players face.

How did you get into the profession?

"I was an athlete back in high school and played when I was in college. I went into family medicine because I initially wanted to go into orthopedics years ago. I decided I wanted to go back to a small town and I wasn't as big into surgeries as much as I was taking care of sports and orthopedic injuries. Going back to a small town I felt I had the ability to do more things in terms of helping families as a doctor, so I went into family medicine and finished my residency. From there, I decided I wanted to do a sports medicine fellowship and subsequently, I began to work in sports medicine."

What is one of the more common injuries you see in baseball players and is it preventable?

"The two most common and concerning injuries are shoulder and elbow amongst pitchers. You are going to have these injuries as long as baseball is around but they are very largely preventable. The biggest issue with both of those injuries is mechanics. The one through five treatment or preventative options are mechanics. I definitely think the rehab and stretching (particularly with the shoulder) are critical but a lot of it will come down to mechanics. We see a lot of high school kids who don't have the right mechanics who have the ability to over-throw their arm because they are good. Those kids will continue to get used and put themselves out there. Or they go to "showcases" and basically over-throw and breakdown before they ever get to a higher level. The guys at the higher level have good mechanics and then sometimes, a little thing goes wrong or they get a little tight and then they start having symptoms. It's different treating guys at major league level versus the high school level."

Is it due to constantly throwing fastballs that arms wear down, or is it due to curveballs and other pitches that have movement?

"I think at a younger age, it is all due to over-throwing. It's due to trying to throw harder and throw new pitches. I don't think curveballs and sliders necessarily put more stress on the elbow or the shoulder but they throw so much trying to perfect those pitches that they over-throw (volume wise). I think a lot of that comes from trying too hard and opening their body up too much. They leave their hand back, drop their elbow, or they raise it too much and get their mechanics off. Then they over-throw and get in trouble."