Worried that your favorite Little Leaguer or high school pitcher may be damaging their pitching arm?

There's an app for that.

Dewar Gaines, a 27-year-old former football player at Birmingham Southern, has teamed up with renowned Birmingham orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews and physical therapist Dr. Kevin Wilk in a company called Abracadabra Health aimed at using phone applications to reduce sports injuries.

First up is "Throw Like a Pro," an Apple phone application that helps keep track of a pitcher's number of pitches, factoring in age.

Dr. Kevin Wilk, instrumental in developing new phone app.

The pitch counter helps the players, their parents, coaches track how many pitches are thrown during a game and tells you how many days of rest are needed before pitching again.

"Say you are a Dad on the sideline watching your 10-year-old pitch, using the app to keep track of pitches," Gaines said. "Your phone will flash and vibrate when you need to pull the kid out of the game."

The app is available via the App Store for $9.99 a download. In addition to the pitch counter, the app includes a pre-season preparation guide, warm-up guidelines and information about overuse injuries.

"Throw Like a Pro" was the No. 6 app in the sports category on Sunday.

"It places the knowledge and expertise of the two foremost experts on throwing injuries in the dugouts, homes and practice fields across America," says the description at the store.

The 21 reviews have been praiseworthy of the app, averaging 4 and one-half stars out of five -- although there were a few that said it's not worth the money.

A key thrust with the app is to prevent injuries that lead to "Tommy John surgery" named after the former Los Angeles Dodger pitcher who in 1974 had surgery to repair ligament damage in arm, an injury attributed to overuse.

Andrews says in a company release that he estimates that one-half of all injuries in adolescents stem from overuse and that one-quarter of all active professional pitchers have undergone Tommy John surgery.

Dewar Gaines, CEO Abracadabra Health

"We want anyone and everyone that wants Dr. Andrews knowledge to be able to have it," Gaines said. "He's probably the best mind in orthosports. And Kevin Wilk is probably the best physical therapist in the country."

Gaines path to Abracadabra Health started with an ankle injury. Gaines said he had taken the non-traditional path in college, attending Mississippi State for a while, taking several years off to work, before returning to graduate from Birmingham Southern. But while still in school he decided to play football at the ripe age of 25 and sustained the injury.

It was in the course of rehabilitation at Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center in Birmingham that Gaines had a brainstorm regarding injuries and rehab and that there should be an app for that.

After some persistent pursuit, he finally got a meeting with Andrews, Gaines said, and the deal was done.

The company, Abracadabra Health, is named after Andrews' yacht, Abracadabra III.