The Shoulder in Baseball: Stretching

The shoulder is an amazing joint that can perform amazing things, but it also can be a very fragile joint. The throwing motion places significant stress on the shoulder and without adequate preparation injury can occur easily.

The stretches below are primarily to MAINTAIN your range of motion, NOT GAIN range of motion in your shoulder. This is an important concept to grasp. Daily stretching will allow you to achieve the appropriate range of motion over time for the shoulder that is needed to maximise your velocity as well as prevent injury. If you Stretch only before and after games and try to GAIN motion while stretching, you will not be gaining any lasting effect of motion from the stretching and you also will be making yourself susceptible to injury.

The below diagram illustrates the necessary range of motion in the shoulder. The average range of motion needed for pitchers is: external rotation (ER)~120 degrees and internal rotation (IR) ~60 degrees. The important factor is the “total motion” (TM) of 180`. If this range is not maintained then there is an increased risk of injury occurring.

Stretching Techniques

The techniques used most often are a combination of what's called PNF (Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation) contract-relax techniques.The theory behind PNF stretching can be a bit long and boring for most, but in short it provides a better stretch for two main reasons. The first is when contracting a muscle (either the same or opposite muscle to what you are stretching) during a stretching routine, you are stimulating the nervous system, which causes a reflex inhibition reaction causing the muscle to relax. This allows you to stretch further as the muscle is now more relaxed. The second reason, which is not often talked about, is that by contracting the muscle your are increasing the amount of blood to the muscle, which creates more fluid around the muscle to the supporting fascia (spiderweb-like substance that holds the muscle together), which lubricates it and allows it to stretch further. This second reason is used well in method #2 as it also creates more heat in the muscle, which reduces the risk of injury.

Method #1

The person holds the stretching position for 5-20secs. The assistant (or your other arm/towel/rope) then holds the arm/leg in the stretched position and resists the arm/leg in the opposite direction to that of the stretch. The force given by the person stretching is 20-50% effort. This is held for 3-5secs. The person stretching then moves the arm into a slightly stronger stretch where the whole process is then repeated 3-4 times. With each repetition there should be a slight increase in stretch.

This method is best performed after your game or workout.

Method #2

An alternative to this method, which is more of a warm-up technique is demonstrated by Mark Verstegen in his warm-up/stretching videos (first one below). One of the difference with Mark verstegen's warm-up stretches are they are done with only 2-3 second holds and repeated more than 3-4 times (up to 7-8). The other is he uses the opposite muscle of the one being stretched to hold the stretching position.

(I often add a resistance in the opposite direction as in Method #1 to method #2. Just personal preference as it's a combination of the two)

Stretch #1

Below is a great stretch for the shoulder and maybe the best. The below video does a good job at illustrating the stretch. However, Evidence suggests that the shoulder should not point straight up to the sky as this places to much strain on the shoulder capsule. Instead, let your top shoulder point back at a 45 degree angle. Halfway between the top shoulder laying on the ground to pointing to the sky.

This position stretches into internal rotation of the shoulder.

The remaining pictures aren't the greatest of quality so i will update them when i get a chance. (These are also in no particular order)

Stretch #2

This position stretches the inferior capsule of the shoulder.

Stretch #3

This position stretches the posterior gleno-humeral musculature.Lying on your back aids to stabilize the shoulder blade.

Stretch #4

This position stretches into external rotation of the shoulder.

Stretch #5

This position stretches your hip, middle and lower back, and across your chest.This is important for pitchers and improving their trunk rotation flexibility.

Technique: Use your inner thigh (adductor muscles) to hold your knee down with the assistance of your hand.Then reach across your body trying to reach your arm and shoulder flat on the ground. Continue to reach as far as you can while holding (with your inner thigh muscles) your top knee to the ground. Hold this For 3-5secs and repeat 3-4 times on both sides.

The Forearm in Baseball: Stretching

Two simple, but important stretches below to be included into your stretching routine. They are a little different so listen and watch carefully. A later post will be done for the general stretching techniques that Mark Verstegen uses in his videos as they are very effective, but unfortunetly not commonly used in the general public.

The Forearm in Baseball: Strengthening

As with the shoulder muscles, the forearm muscles do a tremendous amount of work during an overhead throw. This is why it is also important to MAINTAIN not GAIN strength in your forearm muscles during the season to prevent injury to your elbow and also your shoulder if compensation occurs. For the first 1-2 weeks start with 1 set of ten repetitions and progress to 2-3 sets after that. 2-3 times per week is enough for the non-professional level of competition.

One minor modification to the video below is of benefit. Instead of going from one side all the way to the other as in the first two exercises shown, just go half way and then back to the starting position. This makes your forearm muscles work throughout more of the motion and prevents gravity from taking over. Do one half, for say ten repetitions, and then the other half before moving on to the next exercise.

Don't be put off by the massive forearms below. I had to do this video myself. These are just some simple wrist curl and wrist extension exercises. The weight used is again dependant on many things, but as a rough guide: the first exercise use between 2kg and 7kg and with the second exercise use between 3kg and 10kg. Remember these are rough guides for training in-season.

The Shoulder in Baseball: Strengthening in-season

As with stretching, we are looking to MAINTAIN arm strength and prevent injury during the season and NOT GAIN arm strength via strengthening exercises. The below videos by mark verstegen contain exercises that have been confirmed as the best shoulder exercises for throwers by several journal articles including ones from Mike Reinold and Dr. James Andrews. However, there a couple of slight modifications that are needed to these videos as well as comments.

The exercises are called the T, Y, W and L exercises because that's the position your body forms when performing the exercises. The T, Y and L exercises have good research to back them up, but the W exercise doesn't. However, there is no research saying that it causes any adverse effects so there is no problem if you chose to perform that one as well.

If you are just starting these exercises during the season then be slow and cautious with your approach. I would recommend only performing these exercises one set of 10 repetitions each two times per week with no more than 1.5Kg of weight. That may not feel like much but it's enough for the first 2-3 weeks (you can add a extra set each week). Depending on your size and general strength, you may progress to 2-3 sets of 2.5Kg for the next 3-6 weeks. Anything much higher is not necessarily going to give you any extra benefit and may cause you injury especially if you had no pre-season training.

There is no great evidence as to when to perform these exercises between each start. Often pitchers will perform these either the first or second day after they pitch and at least one or two days before the next start as well, sometimes an extra one in the middle.

On the Y, T, and W, keep the thumbs up towards the sky as shown.

You can also do these exercises on a flat gym bench or a physio ball as shown below, which i prefer. I also prefer to have the body more parallel to the ground, which also replicates the research more closely.

Intro to this site!

Hi Everyone! I just thought i might be able to help out a few of the boys and girls in the Cronulla Baseball Club, both juniors and seniors, with some advice on baseball. The information on the site will be primarily of an evidence based approach, with information from some of the leaders in the game of baseball and the health science team behind them. Hopefully we will all learn a little from this site, and i'll try and use as many videos as possible so there is no much reading involved.

What you will find on this site

At this stage the information on throwing/pitching will be based on several pitching coaches and information from the National Pitching Association in America with the leader of the NPA and long time Major League pitching coach and player, Tom House, as well as many others.

The injury prevention and rehabilitation aspect of baseball will be based on the research from the famous Dr. James Andrews and his research team. He has long been regarded as the leader in orthopaedic surgery for the shoulder and elbow of the baseball player. If you happen to live in America for at least a couple of weeks during baseball season you will be sure to see his name at the bottom of the screen on ESPN when a baseball player is on his way to see him, which is never good news.

Two researchers and physiotherapist’s work along with Dr. Andrews, Kevin Wilk who is a Physiotherapy rehabilitation consultant for the Tampa Bay Rays MLB team and Mike Reinold who is a physiotherapist for the Boston Red Sox MLB team. I have been lucky enough to have taken courses under these guys and will be basing the information on prevention/conditioning of the shoulder from their research. I will also post information on the latest sports and physiotherapy journal articles as they get published.

Another aspect of the baseball player is the general conditioning and strengthening for both off-season and in-season workouts. The information will be again from multiple sources, but one will be from Mark Verstegen, Author of the famous collection of books including “Core Performance”. Mark Verstegen has been one of the leader’s in the field of strength training and conditioning and is the founder of three “Performance Institute” gyms (great website to look at) in America that host several of baseball's greatest players during the off-season to provide players with the best balance in flexibility, power, speed, and agility. I strongly recommend that anyone remotely interested in their health, regardless of being a baseball player or not, to buy his main book "Core Performance". It is currently selling for only $13 US on Amazon.com. It is honestly one of the best books i have ever bought including all the expensive physiotherapy books I've purchased. The book is shown below and the link is attached to Amazon.com. Although i wish i did, I have no monetary benefit with the sales of this this book. You will also notice many of the video's on this site will be from Mark Verstegen's website. Most of his exercises are current with the evidence, with only a few modifications needed.

Please feel free to comment on any subject and ask as many questions as you like. If i don't have the answer for you i usually will be able to find out from one the super smart guys listed above. Also please propose a post topic that you would like to discuss, the more interaction the better. I have information that i plan on posting for at least the next few months about once a week, but i will check it regularly for questions or comments. The site is new, so bare with me as there might be a few errors along the way. Just let me know if you do find something that isn't working properly or if there a few spelling mistakes so i can fix them ASAP.

Thanks and enjoy.

Nick Pontifex