Throwing and Overhead Hitting Performance and Injury Prevention Programs
Baseball is a popular sport with more than 19 million amateur players in the United States alone. Thousands more play collegiate and professional baseball. The most common site of injury in baseball is the upper extremity, and pitchers are at the greatest risk for sustaining a throwing injury to the arm. The forces on the shoulder and elbow in pitchers as well as overhead hitters (tennis, volleyball, etc.) are tremendous and training to improve performance and avoid injury is very important.
Using proper technique, ball velocity (pitching speed) mostly results from the forces generated by the legs, hip and trunk and the arm just serves to direct and channel these forces. Exercises that develop lower extremity, hip and trunk explosive power are the best way to increase your throwing strength and MPH. Throwing or hitting harder with the arm is not as effective and results in injury. Additionally, maneuvers that develop core strength and balance help as well.
Exercises to strengthen the rotator cuff, scapular muscles, and wrist pronators/flexors can be helpful to accept and direct these large forces developed by the rest of the body and can help prevent injury.
Lastly, all of these exercises are unable to reproduce the extreme forces and torques seen at the shoulder and elbow during the act of throwing. Therefore, one must actually throw in order to train during the preseason, maintain while off-season and in-season, and return to play after an injury. Data-based interval throwing programs have been designed by integrating age-specific pitching statistics, field dimensions, performance restrictions, in vitro biomechanical studies, and an understanding of the physiology of healing tissue.
Interval throwing programs, preseason, off-season and in-season, provide the safest means to get into throwing shape, maintain throwing condition, avoid injury and gradually return an injured thrower to the mound.
The Sports Medicine Physicians and Therapy Clinicians at the Orthopaedic Sports Performance Institute (OSPI) have combined their knowledge, experience and skill to research and develop their own Throwing and Overhead Hitting Performance and Injury Prevention Program.
To sign-up or get more information about the Program please contact OVERHEAD ATHLETE by email or call 630-794-8668.
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