The majority of shoulder injuries occurring in throwing sports involve the soft tissue structures. Injuries often occur when the unit is overstretched to a point near its greatest length, involving the elastic tissues. The other injury mechanism involves the contractural unit of the muscle, which occurs near the midpoint of contractions, involving largely the muscle fibers. The nature of the injury is modified by many things, including myostatic contractures of the joints and muscles, age and physical maturity of the patient, weight and type of object to be propelled, nature of propulsion, presence of weakness or fatigue, incoordination of the motion, amount of chronic degenerative changes present, and presence of previous injury with its fibrous scarring. Common stress-related injuries to the shoulder areas (anterior structures, rotator cuff and environs, posterior structures, glenohumeral articulation, neurovascular) are discussed along with generalized treatments. Suggestions are made for diagnosis, a year-round training program, early season practice, pre-game injury prevention and warm-up, post-game care, and treatment. (JD)