Dr.Sherry Warner on preventing shoulder injuries

So this was interesting this morning. I was on Facebook and saw a link to a video on FastpitchTV that had Dr. Sherry Warner - who did one of the most well-known studies on pitching back in the day - talking about how to prevent shoulder injuries in pitchers through proper mechanics. Who can resist that?

The first one was pretty standard - make sure your pitcher's hips are at a 45 degree angle at release. She's been advocating that for years.

But the second one threw me. She said pitchers should have a short follow-through, the proceeded to demonstrate a follow-through that looked like an arm curl. She basically just curled her hand up to touch her shoulder, and said a long follow-through would hurt the pitcher's shoulder. No real explanation behind it, just said that's what would happen.

This is the opposite of everything I've ever heard from everyone else. In fact, the technique she demonstrated is usually said to cause elbow problems by over-stretching the tendons.

So what do you think? I'll tell you in my opinion that short release is a bad idea for a lot of reasons, including stress, loss of speed and loss of control. It doesn't make a lot of logical sense either. It would be like a hitter pulling off the ball at contact rather than getting to extension - something many of us battle regularly. It certainly doesn't pass the Hanson Principle test either.

Follow-through........ Let the arm/hand go where they will. With good arm whip, the arm/hand won't be curling up such that the hand touches the shoulder. Why force it to?

Intuitively it makes sense to me. She's shortening the moment arm, which reduces stress on the joint. That's as far as I can go with it lol!

I've read all her stuff... and I'm not certain that this recent TV gig's statements are much different than most of the stuff she has published.

She's spent a good deal of time analyzing shoulder and elbow forces, and has published that she prefers 'more' bend in the arm during release than 'less'. When I look at the illustrations she uses as reference to the different phases... I see HE illustrations... as recent as 2006. At 12, the hand rotates from 3B to 2B (hand gets on top) with a very evident PUSH. Oddly, she then writes:

"...a good rule of thumb is to pull, not push."

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She was also the pitching coach at Penn State for awhile... definitely has 'certs'.

As far as follow-through... she says:

"Those who follow through with a straight elbow where the hand raises up above the head place a lot of stress on their shoulder. Those who snap their wrist and elbow, then bend both joints, protect the shoulder better."

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When I read that... I don't see advocacy of HE. The delivery of HE is straight-arm pushing... with a bending happening AFTER release. Whether you use what you believe as I/R or HE... the real issue is whether or not the elbow has flexion during the last quarter. This... in and of itself, lessens the shoulder forces, as the forearm sucks the energy out of the upper arm, decelerating it... by chaining energy to the ball.

A good test is to see if you can actually throw a ball with the hand on top AND elbow flexion in the back-half of the circle. Like... pitch it. It's freakin' ugly. Furthermore, having the hand pronated in the back-half, is COMPLETELY contradictory... because a pronated forearm ENGAGES the extensors of the arm. A supinated forearm engages the flexors.

PhD or not... their examples in these case contradict actual biomechanics. IMO, this is the difference in "doing"... and "saying". Hansen all the way...