Strength Testing Could Reduce Pitching Injuries

Re:Weak shoulder in preseason ups pitcher injury risk- Ian Byram

Hi. My name is Brad Beldner. I am an Anat Baniel Practitioner and Feldenkrais Movement Teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is disappointing that sports medicine still has limitations when trying to understand the dynamics of human movement, causes of repetitive stress injuries, and the ingredients needed to upgrade athletic performance. As a therapist and movement teacher working with many athletes, I find most rotator cuff pain and limitations in movement and performance of the arm, are usually a reflection of how a person organizes their whole body for the specific action they are trying to execute. The rotator cuff muscles will always get over used, inflamed and weak etc, when the rest of the body isn't organized well to support and participate with the movements of the arm. You create a stronger, more powerful, freer and efficient throwing arm, by not having the arm at odds with the rest of the body. For example, if the structures of your chest (spine, ribs, sternum, clavicles) aren't free enough to organize themselves to accommodate what is happening with the actions of your arm, your arm will always have to work harder at the ball and socket joint and the rotator cuff (and junctions of the humerus, scapula, acromion process, clavicles and their supporting muscles, etc). In other words, any place our bodies do not have good distribution of effort (work load) and movement throughout, the places that aren't doing an efficient job at helping with an action, create pain and stress in the places that are taking on the brunt of the work ( i.e. pitching arm and its rotators cuff muscles). It is very simple to predict who will have a weak rotator cuff and inefficient pitching arm, by looking at how the rest of their body is supporting the action of pitching the ball. Trying to improve the pitching arm by only strengthening the rotator cuff (and surrounding muscles) is an attempt at trying to over power (or compensate for) the 90% of the body that is usually creating the difficulty. Success is attained when integrating the arm with the rest of the body to get the entire body all on the same page to perform the pitch.

Predicting performance outcomes and helping athletes organize themselves for optimal action is easier when you step out of the limitations of looking myopically at a one point in a dynamic system, and problem solve by examining the system as a whole and how it relates to its environment.

I am curious what others think about this idea especially Ian Byram and his colleagues

Thanks.

Brad Beldner

Anat Baniel Method Practitioner

Guild Certified Feldenkrais Movement Teacher

Somatic Experiencing Practitioner

www.bradbeldner.com