FREE ESSAY ON THROWING MECHANICS AND SHOULDER DISTRACTION IN PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL PITCHERS

THROWING MECHANICS AND SHOULDER DISTRACTION IN PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL PITCHERS

Werner, Sherry L. (2001) Relationship between Throwing Mechanics and Shoulder Distraction
in Professional Baseball Pitchers. American Journal of Sports Medicine.
It's fair to say that a good baseball game can lie in the hands of the pitcher. According
to this article by the American Journal of Sports Medicine, 50 percent of professional
baseball pitchers experience elbow or shoulder pain due to the way they throw the ball.
Because not much research has been done on professional baseball athletes, the purpose of
this publication was to find at what point in the pitcher's technique does most of the
damage occur. The study began by taking 40 pro-baseball pitchers, all ranging from the
age of 23-33 years old with relatively the same height and weight. Also, thirty-two of
the 40 selected are right-hand dominant. Then they placed 3 cameras in different parts of
the field. These cameras would take still frames of the pitchers and their technique when
throwing the ball. They found that at the point where there is maximum rotation (aka the
cocking phase) the distraction force was low. Also, it was stated that because of the
elbow angle at foot stride and ball release that the shoulder joint was affected more so
than at any other time. Finally, in order to understand why the injuries occur we should
learn the joint ranges of motion so we can develop better preventive methods for
injuries.
I don't believe that this article is very reliable, because the way the chose their
subject wasn't very scientifical. First, The range of age is too broad, and it doesn't
mention how long the pitcher has been in the sport. For example, the could have chosen a
23 year old with a good arm, but bad technique compared to a 33 year old who has been
pitching for years and has loosened the ligaments in his arm. Also, they selected 32 that
were right-hand dominant. That became the majority. I believe that the data would be
wrong if the numbers of right-handed to left-handed pitchers weren't equal, because they
are the control group in the experiment, which makes the variable the pitchers'
technique. Overall, this experiment shouldn't be considered a reference for students or
others to depend on.
When it comes to the relevancy of this article to the field of athletic training, I
believe that it is somewhat helpful. In order to understand and prevent injuries, an
athletic trainer must understand why and how the injuries happen. This article gave
detailed information of the correct method of pitching. For example, it stated that the
average elbow at pitchers' stance was 96 degrees, but those with more flexed elbows had
less shoulder distraction. So an athletic trainer can figure out if their athletes'
stance is off or help them loosen up the athletes' shoulder so the can reach back
farther. Also, the athletic trainer can help the athletic with their technique, such as
their stride, or follow through based on the information attained from the experiment. 
I chose this article because I'm a huge Cubs fan, and 2 years ago Keri Wood was having
trouble with his shoulder and elbow, so I decided that maybe I can find out the history
behind his problem. Well, honestly I didn't. I found out ways that he could have
prevented those problems, and how he can find whatever caused them. In my opinion this
wasn't a very good article when it comes to the way these people carried out the
experiment, and at least I now know what to look for.