It's All Just Protection

Today I want to generate conversation on thoracic spine mobility and its role in the movement patterns of the lower half. Previously I wrote about “whipping the hip”. While learning to “whip the hip” with proper sequencing and quality movement pattern, one may find themselves reaching a plateau or developing symptoms such as LBP(low back pain), hip pain. Michael Boyle and Gray Cook talk about their development of the “Joint-by-Joint Approach”. Looking at our body as a series or segments stacked on top of one another. Lack of thoracic mobility is as common as lack of hip mobility. Slouching posture, hunchback, problems rotating your torso, … Youʼve seen it. The thoracic spine is the area about which we know the least. Many performance/medical professionals recommend increasing thoracic mobility, though few have exercises designed specifically for it. The approach seems to be We know you need it, but weʼre not sure how to get it. Over the next few years, we will see an increase in exercises designed to increase thoracic mobility. Gray Cook also writes.....Ribs, vertebrae and lots of muscle and fascia crisscrossing the front and back of the thorax cause thoracic stiffness. We donʼt inherently have a lot of mobility there, but we need all we can get. However, stiffness isnʼt just something we need to get rid of. Stiffness is there for a reason. Biological mechanisms that move very well in childhood will develop stiffness following an injury or following repetitive bad mechanics over time. If the body doesnʼt stabilize correctly,it will figure out another way to get stability: itʼs called stiffness. If you find tight hamstrings or a tight T-spine and you just hit the foam roller, you may change mobility, but you will see the stiffness return the following day. Mobility efforts without reinstalling stability somewhere else simply donʼt last. Those hamstrings were tight for a reason. That T-spine is stiff for a reason. If you donʼt also backfill some of that new motion with reflex muscular integrity and motor control, youʼre going to have a problem. Usually we see tight hamstrings on people who donʼt extend their hips well. They donʼt use their glutes well, and so the poor hamstrings get double-time. The hamstrings get too much use, and they fatigue—a fatigued muscle and a tight muscle look very much the same. Itʼs all just protection. Really, I donʼt know that I can say this any clearer than what Gray Cook has/is saying. Rodger Fleming, ATC, LMT Body Awareness Therapeutic Massage

Minimizing the Risk of Injury in Little League Players

It’s that special time of the summer again when young players flock to Williamsport, Pennsylvania in search of the Little League World Series Championship. Watching the games on television, you can’t help but notice the young pitchers and pay attention to how many pitches they throw and the types of pitches they throw. At the youth level, it seems that the pitchers who excel are the ones who are able to learn to throw a breaking ball. At that age, it is difficult for the hitter to recognize and hit that pitch. So, often the pitcher uses the curveball or slider frequently. Recently, in the media, there has been a lot of discussion regarding overuse injuries of the youth pitcher. The conventional wisdom was that throwing the curveball at too early an age would lead to injury in the young pitcher. However, research done by several authors in the past couple of years contradicts that idea.

A couple of studies done by The American Sports Medicine Institute (Birmingham, AL) and Connecticut Children’s Medical Center (Farmington, CT) were done to evaluate and compare the biomechanical differences between the fastball, curveball, and change-up pitches. Both studies demonstrated that the stresses to the shoulder and elbow joint were greatest when throwing a fastball as compared to the other types of pitches. The authors concluded that throwing the curveball may not be responsible for the rising injury toll in young pitchers.

So, if it’s not the type of pitch, then what is responsible for what seems like an epidemic of shoulder and elbow injuries in the young baseball athlete? The answer, yet again, may come from research done at ASMI in Birmingham, Alabama. Three main risk factors seem to be more responsible for contributing to a young pitcher’s development of pain and injury: Improper Mechanics, Fatigue, and Overuse.

Improper Mechanics

I’ve wrote about this area in many of my articles and blogs, but it bears repeating again. The overhead pitching motion is a fine-tuned sequence of movements in body segments originating from the lower extremities and pelvis, progressing through the trunk, and culminating in the smaller, less powerful upper extremity structures. The better and more efficient the thrower’s mechanics, the better the chances of reducing stresses on the shoulder and elbow. Mechanical faults that alter the timing of the sequencing of events or place the body in an improper position can result in increased upper extremity forces and torques. These increases in joint stresses can lead to an increase in subsequent risk of injury. Even though the curveball, by evidence of research, is less stress full on the elbow and shoulder than the fastball, the pitch should still be taught by a qualified pitching instructor. Too often, a volunteer coach or parent attempts to introduce the breaking ball to a young pitcher. Without proper knowledge of the pitching motion and the specific grips and key teaching points, the athlete may learn incorrect technique which may surely elevate his risk of potential problems.

Fatigue

The ASMI study notes that young athletes who pitch with arm fatigue or throw more than 85 pitches per game are more likely to require elbow surgery. Younger, less experienced pitchers are unable to maintain their accuracy or level of performance as they become fatigued. The fine-tuned chain of events necessary to execute the throwing motion is altered and creates timing delays and compensations in movement and muscle activation patterns which may ultimately result in an increased risk of injury. Fortunately, many youth baseball programs have adopted limits on pitch counts per outing and mandated specific lengths of rest prior to returning to the mound.

Overuse

Along with the number of pitches per outing, the length of a young player’s “season” also impacts his risk of potential shoulder or elbow injury. Adolescents who pitch more than 8 months out of the year are also several more times likely to require arm surgery. 8 months out of the year?! This seems absurd to me. The Major League Regular Season is only 7 months long and these are mature, seasoned, developed, and conditioned pitchers. If you enjoy playing baseball, that is fantastic! It is a great game. But as a youngster, go out and play other sports too. Learn how to move, run, cut, jump. Develop your overall athleticism. As you get older, then you can begin to focus on a sport that best suits your talents. If it’s baseball and pitching, then having a better foundation of athleticism can only help you.

The moral of the story is that if your son is going to throw the curveball, he should learn how to throw it correctly. It is important to learn how to identify when he is beginning to tire and be sure to allow for adequate rest and recovery between outings. Finally, avoid overuse by allowing your young player to become a multi-sport athlete. This will allow the body physically and mentally rest from the repetitive stresses of baseball and help to develop a better physical foundation for athletic performance.

David Yeager, ATC, CSCS
Co-Founder
BaseballStrengthCoaching.com

If Sliding Head First Were Faster, World-Class Sprinters Would Dive Across the Finish Line!

The 2011 baseball season started with tragedy at Arizona State University. While sliding head-first into second base during an attempted steal, freshman player Cory Hahn collided with the knee of the fielder and suffered a fractured neck and is reportedly paralyzed.

Though there are injury risks with feet-first sliding, it is commonly believed that the more devastating injuries are associated with head-first slides (i.e. cervical spine injuries, shoulder dislocations, and other elbow, wrist, and hand trauma). Yet, coaches continue to teach, and players continue to attempt head-first sliding because they believe it is a faster baserunning technique.

The truth…IT’S NOT. A 2002 study proved once and for all that at all levels, there is no difference in speed between head-first and feet-first sliding. The authors concluded that in fact, feet-first sliding may even be slightly faster.

Kane SM, House HO, Overgaard KA. Head-first versus feet-first sliding: A comparison of speed from base to base. The American Journal of Sports Medicine. 2002; 30(6): 834-836.

As I mentioned, there is injury potential to the lower body with the feet-first technique (i.e. ankles, knees, hips, and hands), but these are not considered to be in the same class of severity as those associated with the head-first method. It can be argued that when the feet-first slide is taught correctly and practiced, the potential for injury is low – particularly now with breakaway bases, etc.

NEVER SHOULD A PLAYER SLIDE HEAD-FIRST INTO HOME PLATE!

David Yeager, ATC, CSCS
Co-Founder
BaseballStrengthCoaching.com

Let’s Get to the Core of the Problem

Well, it’s been a little while since our last installment on the BaseballStrengthCoaching.com blog site. I apologize for that. With the initiation of the baseball season, I have been striving to settle in to a routine, adapt to the rigors of travel, and adjust to the day-to-day grind that is the game of baseball. But, that’s a topic for another time.

What I want to talk about this week is the dreaded Oblique Muscle Strain. Baseball is a rotational sport. Everything players do from swinging the bat, pitching the ball, or fielding a ball in the hole, involves a rotary movement at the hips, torso, or shoulder complex. The oblique muscles are the responsible for creating this torso rotation pattern. In recent years, many major league players, both position player and pitcher alike, have been sidelined by injury to this muscle.

In my opinion, these injuries occur for several reasons. First, have you ever followed a hitter around for a day and counted exactly how many total swings he performs? Let’s look at an example of a typical day. Player A shows up to the ballpark and goes to the hitting cage for early work. He may perform up to 30-40 repetitions attempting “lock in his swing”. Then, later in the day, Player A participates in the daily team batting practice which consists of up to 15-20 minutes of a group of 4 hitters. Each hitter may perform another 40+ repetitions. During the game, he takes another 5-10 swings while in the on-deck circle. This time, often with an additional weight on the bat. And finally, he averages 5 at-bats per game. And just for argument, let’s say that he takes 4 swings per at-bat for an additional 20 repetitions.

40 + 40 + 10 + 20 = 110 swings per day

110 swings per day. And, that doesn’t even take into account the number of rotational movements that are performed with his throwing activities. Add these numbers up over the course of an entire season and the rotational repetition volume is astounding. High volume can lead to fatigue. With fatigue comes changes in movement patterns. Changes in movement patterns equal abnormal muscle firing patterns.

The second reason I think these injuries occur is a result of a neuromuscular “misfire” and is directly related to the type of core training that we traditionally perform. During the hitting and throwing motions there is a period of loading (potential energy) and unloading (kinetic energy). As the pitch is being delivered the hitter performs a slight countermovement to “load” his swing and harness energy. As the ball gets closer to the plate, he begins to initiate his swing and “unload” his energy through the bat to the ball. It is at the point of switching from loading to unloading that these oblique injuries occur. In terms of plyometric training we call it the “amoritization phase”. And ideally, the switch should be as quick as possible in order to maximize the benefits of the stretch-shortening cycle and create the optimal resulting concentric force. Traditionally, players and coaches emphasize standard crunches, concentric med ball rotations, and possibly even medicine ball throwing exercises to improve overall core / trunk force production. However, when an athlete is not trained to harness energy and quickly change direction to release that energy. He lacks the neuromuscular conditioning to execute the fine-tuned pattern of load-stabilize-unload. When this lack of programming is coupled with the fatigue and abnormal muscular recruitment I mentioned earlier, the potential for injury increases.

Finally, “it’s all in the hips”. Hip mobility is a key factor. Athletes must have adequate flexibility and range of motion in the pelvis and hips to allow for complete torso rotation. When he lacks mobility in the hips, greater stresses are transmitted up through the spine creating greater needs of the abdominal musculature. Greater requirements result again in abnormal muscle recruitment patterns and can potentially lead to injury.

Prevention programs of these oblique and abdominal muscle injuries should emphasize the following points:

1. Monitor swing volume and tailor activities accordingly. Emphasize quality over quantity.

2. Core strengthening programs should focus on stabilization, eccentric loading, and the quick switch from load to unload. (Of course a good baseline strength level should be present before progressing to this type of training.)

3. Attention should be placed on hip mobility.


David Yeager, ATC, CSCS
Co-Founder, BaseballStrengthCoaching.com

Need for Speed

The Need for Speed:

Baseball is an interesting game, involving many aspects of an athlete’s ability. Speed is one quality that all sports seem to want, but what is speed? What does speed mean? What does “that player is fast” really mean? I have posed these questions to myself many times, and I continue to evolve the approach I take in attaining “speed”. In this blog I wanted to go through the thought process and address some of the issues that aid the athlete in attaining their full potential.
When planning to increase a player’s speed, what is the goal? Is the player considered slow in the 60, or are they slow from home to first. Are they slow in the field, are they not making plays they should be. The reason this is important, is because a player that runs an excellent 60 time does not mean that player steals a lot of bases. In training, every quality of “speed” should be addressed but if we don’t understand what the goal is then how can we make an effective plan.

What are the qualities of “speed”?
1) Acceleration
2) Maintenance
3) Deceleration
4) Change of Directions

These are the basics, I have seen them broken down with different names and multiple stages, but this gives the basics that are easy to understand. In the first quality, acceleration, we are basically talking about from the point the player starts to the point that they reach top speed. I consider this to be the most important quality is baseball. The faster we can reach top speed the better the player will be at the game. I believe that is true at any position on the field. The reason I believe this is true is because this allows the player to play ahead of the game. They are able to refocus attention after acceleration to the play at hand whether it is fielding a ball or stealing a base. The game is played in short burst usually around 30 yards or 90 feet. Let’s take an example: we have two players they both run the 60 in 6.9sec. But player 1 runs the 30 in 3.0 sec. and player 2 runs it in 3.3 sec. Which player is going to steal more bases, player 1 because they get to their top speed faster? This player will also track down more balls and make more plays because they get to point “a” just a little bit faster then the other, but on paper, with traditional testing they are the same.
In baseball the second quality, maintenance, is not as important as in some other sports, because the player does not have to run very far, again we are looking at around 30 yards, or less, in most plays. Maintained of speed, is a great tool for conditioning in baseball, the more times a player can run that 30 yards in 3.0 sec. the better the player will be able to focus and not fatigue from the game.
The last 2 qualities of speed, deceleration and change of direction really go hand in hand. In many cases this aspect of speed is over looked, but with out these qualities the athlete is not able to be quick, which allows the player to use acceleration. Being able to refocus the players speed in another direction is key to making great plays, on the base paths or when getting deep in the hole. The quality of deceleration is also important in the reduction of injury. In many cases the change of direction or reacceleration is the point that many injuries happen and so by training this quality a player can also decrease the likely hood of injury.
When training for “speed” have a plan. Know what the player needs, and how to get it.

Brian Niswender
Baseballstrengthcoaching.com