When Tommy John underwent the revolutionary surgical procedure on his left elbow in 1974 that would become his namesake, it was a desperate measure to save a valuable pitcher's major league career.
More than 40 years later, it has become commonplace for an injury that has reached epidemic proportions at all levels of baseball.
The son of the former pitcher finds it alarming that the surgery synonymous with his father's name is most often performed on players in their teens.
Dr. Tommy John, a chiropractor who grew up in South Florida but runs a performance and healing center in San Diego, cites a study showing that athletes ages 15 to 19 account for 57 percent of Tommy John surgeries as motivation in writing a book aimed at curbing the trend.
"It shouldn't be necessary," John, who wrote "Minimize Injury, Maximize Performance" as a sports parents survival guide, says of teens going under the knife. "The success rate after Tommy John surgery is not good. You don't want this surgery, especially if you have it in your teenage years."
While the focus has been on the rise in major league pitchers undergoing Tommy John surgery _ about 25 percent of all active MLB players have _ the eye-opener came with the 2015 study published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine showing the greatest number of procedures in the age 15-19 group _ and the rate is increasing at an average of 6 percent a year.
To John, the revelation is a reflection of a larger problem of injuries skyrocketing in youth sports throughout the country during the past 20 years.
Notably, another study showed the number of soccer-related injuries treated in emergency rooms increased 78 percent from 1990 to 2014 in ages 7 to 17.
