Pitching Workouts

Lots of times people do and teach what they were taught as kids and the cycle of misinformation goes on and on...

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Come on SoCalSoftballdad, what do you got.... I know you need heat, not ice, but would love to see your info... I'll match it with mine for not only heat, but infrared heat... I got some great stuff... I got a debate going on another forum with college coach. Mine stuff is way out there, need some more main stream info, linkz ect... thankz

Ice versus heat

Heat increases blood flow, therefore brining healing nutrients to the area of injuries as well increased immune response thereby increasing healing time, range of motion, speed of recovery and collagen formation.* Ice has the opposite effect.

RICE, ICE and swelling

The cells that make up ligaments, tendons, and organs are extremely temperature-sensitive. When you warm them up, their metabolism increase. When you cool them down, their metabolism slows down. So when you ice you are slowing down the metabolism of the affected cells.
*
It is obvious that ligaments require improved circulation to the area in order to heal after an injury, since the blood supply to ligaments is normally so poor. Yet ice is arguably the most widely used therapeutic agent in medicine today, which most definitely decreases circulation. Ice is often the first line of treatment for traumatic injuries, but are there any side effects?

When DD was hurt with a torn cuff we went to 2 Ortho doctors, and a shoulder specialist. Ice, ice, ice and anti inflammatories. We weren't getting many productive results.

We then chose to go see a sports doctor who does Prolotherapy injections in Nashville. DD did a complete turn around in a short time. ( weeks instead of months ) He pretty much said ice is the devil, good for just after a work out or overuse, but it does nothing to heal. Heat, heat, and then heat again.

Prolotherapy harnesses your body's healing mechanism to complete the healing process and alleviate pain from both old and new injuries.

Let's put it this way. If you're icing your DD after every workout for no reason. That's absolutely absurd. If you're icing after every workout because of chronic inflamation/irritation/pain, that's even worse in my book. (Keep reading, you may be excluded from this criticism if it's for a VERY BRIEF period) Ice doesn't help your body heal. PERIOD. Ice reduces inflamation. Inflamation causes pain and discomfort. Just because the pain and discomfort is reduced by the reduction in inflamation as a result of ice therapy, it doesn't mean you're helping your body recover/heal, especially if you're not alternating cold/heat treatments. There are plenty of arguments that will state alternating cold/hot helps elite athletes heal, but this is still unproven and questionable. Don't get me wrong, ice has it's place in medical treatment, especially sports related, but only with regard to easing the discomfort of a recently sustained injury to relieve the pain, or a TEMPORARY period of time where extreme overuse is required in preparation for a specific event. If you're icing your child down after every workout so she can come back out the next day and work out again. That's CRAZY!! Just my Opinion.

SoCalSoftballdad said:

Some good advice and information from other posters. A couple of comments:

a) learning how to pitch well is a marathon, not a sprint so I would encourage beginning pitchers to pace themselves with the weekly workouts. I think pitching every, other day is prudent so the body has a chance to rest and recover from the previous day's workout (3 or 4 times a week maximum). You also don't want to burnout a 10YO by practicing too much, too soon. You need to take a long term approach to the position.

b) someone mentioned "icing" the shoulder. IMO, this seems completely unnecessary especially for a pitcher your daughters age. Icing is often used to treat "injuries" to reduce swelling. Normal pitching practice using sound pitching mechanics should not result in injuries to the body.

c) once she gets fairly accurate and has good speed with her fastball, introduce the change-up. With these two pitches its fun to have her do pitch sequences where she pretends there is a batter at the plate and you keep track of the pitch count to "strikeout" the batter. She needs to strikeout x number of batters before the practice is over. Make sure to pitch to locations and use all the pitches she has during the "at-bats" including waste pitches out of the strikezone. This drill is good because you not only work on pitching mechanics but also pitching strategy.

remember to make every pitching practice fun....

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The Secret is FUN. How True!! I have a feeling that now that school is starting, we'll naturally fall into the every other day schedule. She's also in the phase of learning where every lesson and every pitching workout brings with it some level of improvement. The challenge will be once she starts to hit the plateaus. I'm hesitant to be the one to dial her back at this stage, for fear I will choke her interest. I'm not the one to mention pitching practice. She's the one to "schedule" me for practice. Great advice though.

GOINGDEEP said:

Ice versus heat

Heat increases blood flow, therefore brining healing nutrients to the area of injuries as well increased immune response thereby increasing healing time, range of motion, speed of recovery and collagen formation.* Ice has the opposite effect.

RICE, ICE and swelling

The cells that make up ligaments, tendons, and organs are extremely temperature-sensitive. When you warm them up, their metabolism increase. When you cool them down, their metabolism slows down. So when you ice you are slowing down the metabolism of the affected cells.
*
It is obvious that ligaments require improved circulation to the area in order to heal after an injury, since the blood supply to ligaments is normally so poor. Yet ice is arguably the most widely used therapeutic agent in medicine today, which most definitely decreases circulation. Ice is often the first line of treatment for traumatic injuries, but are there any side effects?

When DD was hurt with a torn cuff we went to 2 Ortho doctors, and a shoulder specialist. Ice, ice, ice and anti inflammatories. We weren't getting many productive results.

We then chose to go see a sports doctor who does Prolotherapy injections in Nashville. DD did a complete turn around in a short time. ( weeks instead of months ) He pretty much said ice is the devil, good for just after a work out or overuse, but it does nothing to heal. Heat, heat, and then heat again.

Prolotherapy harnesses your body's healing mechanism to complete the healing process and alleviate pain from both old and new injuries.

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Have you tried DMSO?

FiveFrameSwing said:

Have you tried DMSO?

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I didn't think DMSO was sold any more. I used it back in high school on my shoulders and knees! Would get a nasty taste in your mouth about 30 seconds after you applied it!

I didn't think DMSO was sold any more.

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Right on 5SWINGS (using all 5 senses) "Ice Buster" your half way there, it will take you thru the 7 layers, but you got to drag the answer thru with it...

Frozen, (our goal for the batter)
you done it... you have discovered the true test of the antiquated methods propagated by PC's .... ICE.... If they use it, they will also comply with alot more myths, for building the wrong foundations.

Going Deep (thru all the layers of skin).... love your confession.... The answer is penetrating, and delivering the healing by expanding, not contracting. So some people claim that the skin actually has seven layers. Technically, this is correct, but the "widely accepted answer is three." gotta go deeper than 3.

Expansion... Take the NPF... can't we all agree that they could put all the problems they will face the rest of this year behind them by simply announcing that they will have 1 more expansion team next year... "Say it" even though you don't...then interested people will race to be in on it...Or will they be reduced to contraction? They are on ICE

This is the essence of teaching the the art of Fastpitch also. Can you except that there are 7 layers, and do you believe in ICE. I'll throw out another destructive use of ICE. Using it in your drink at noon, (the only time that your body can upload nutrients) only serves to dilute the Enzymes needed to digest, but with food cooked in the cheap un-natural oils you chose, is solidified and totally impedes
the intake, by coating with a sludge. Then it wages a major war with the liver, and will eventually win, over the (wared-it-out) liver.

Hope you guys don't mind how I interpret your usernames, into my own perceptions.


index

My wife is a PT, the only time our dd ices is if there is pain. Which is and should be rare.

Here's my 2 cents, don't ask for change back.

I ice after I pitch every time. At this year's World Tournament a guy was there with something I'd never seen before called "Koldwrap". the website was koldwrap dot com. It's actually something you get wet and put in the fridge, not the freezer and it's re-usable. It wraps right on to my arm kind of like an ace bandage. It cools the muscles but is not a "shock" to them as Ice can be. I was an instant believer the second I tried one on... and I'm probably going to carry this product in my store.

Not only is it designed fit on the body better than icebags but it's much more comfortable.


Bill

We attended the Jennie Finch camp and she recommends ice as well,

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Here's my 2 cents, don't ask for change back.

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Well glad to see you guys got something in common. Just wish that Jenny would weigh in on here as well, so I don't have to ascribe... "the he said SHE said" thanks for the copper tip! Think I'll look into the effects of putting a copper armband on DD... I heard it helps with arthritis.

DM's Son Iced all through his Pitching...She made up the icebags for him, she bought in to the nursing of the little victim. But She also drove him to the Dr. to get the big needle, when his college coach recommended that he was going to have to start that Protocol to the tune of $1800 every other month. It didn't work, he had to drop out of Baseball.

If Mom ever see's an ICE bag of any kind on our little 10U, even the most technological packaging of this rudimentary concept, (sounds like a new gadget) We are ALL out of business., that minute.