Stretching Technique

Introduction The mechanics behind a great pitch will vary greatly depending on the pitcher. Some methods are affective, yet they will put the athlete a much greater risk of injury, but there are also techniques that are proven to reduce injury risk, improve performance and not lose ground on competitive advantage. When one looks at the all-time greats of the pitching world, the names Nolan Ryan, Mariano Rivera, Randy Johnson, Cy Young, and Aroldis Chapman are just a few of many names that will arise when discussing the some of the greatest. All of these pitchers will have somewhat different mechanics or motions, but there are always five phases that can be seen repeated in the greatest pitchers. These phases are defined as: the set stance,
(1) If you ask most any baseball coach what it takes to be an elite pitcher they will tell you velocity and accuracy. Combining these two mechanics into a pitch requires a lot of kinetic energy to be applied to the joints which causes the injuries. Pitcher’s elbow usually presents itself as pain along the inside part of the elbow during or after throwing activity. This injury is usually caused by repetitive motion and stress at the elbow joint, resulting in pulling and stretching of the tendons and ligaments of the inner elbow. It can cause pain and swelling inside the elbow and can limit one’s range of motion. When the injury involves the tendons, it is called “medial epicondylitis”. When the injury is more advanced, it may also involve the ulnar collateral ligament, which stabilizes the elbow during the throwing motion. Injuries to the UCL is very common among the younger baseball players due to the ligament being much weaker in the younger stages of development. (2,3,8) The common repair for the UCL is called, “Tommy John Surgery”, in which the UCL is replaced with another ligament from the body often from the forearm, hamstrings, or foot of the patient.
This situation is referred to as "shoulder impingement' or "impingement syndrome". Rotator cuff tears may be partial thickness, intratendinous, or full thickness in nature. The most common location of rotator cuff pathology in overhead throwers is at the undersurface of the posterior half of the supraspinatus and the superior half of the infraspinatus.(2) The thrower will often complain of shoulder pain aggravated by overhead activity and will often notice weakness and decreased velocity. Night pain radiating down the arm to the elbow is common with a rotator cuff tear. Rotator cuff repairs are uncommon and very dangerous, only a small amount of pitchers in the majors have come back to the same level of pitching after a full tear. After a tear and surgery the athlete usually complains of quicker fatigue and less velocity, which in turn causes longer recovery between pitching