Help with elbow bruising, anyone?

[superg]

My daughter hits her elbow on her hip bone when pitching and comes home from tourneys with a nasty bruise (and swelling) on her elbow. She said she doesn't even notice it when pitching and that doesn't hurt after despite the bruising, but it is obviously not a good thing and needs to be fixed. Strangely, she always throws harder in the tourneys when she gets the bruising.

Any suggestions on what mechanical adjustments might help? From my limited knowledge of pitching, I suspect that maybe her upper arm/elbow should be coming into her body a little more behind, rather than at, the hip? Her pitching instructor thinks that if she works on keeping a little more of a bend in her elbow as it comes toward her body that should help address it. Any ideas?

Also, does anyone know of a type of sleeve with maybe some padding that can be purchased that might help protect her elbow until we get it corrected?

I very much appreciate any input. I hate looking at that nasty bruise!

Cheers!

 

[quincy]

There are a bunch of elbow pads out there that will not effect her pitching, I would do that first then work on thee mechanical issues.

I would start with a light one and get progressively bigger until she does not get hurt. They are relatively unexpensive.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Mike White instructed: "Elbow to hip for power and lower arm whip = speed and spin". "Drop the elbow to the hip for lower arm whip. The hip works as mini resistance for the upper arm and allows the lower arm to whip through release."

http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/24821-brush-interference-gifs.html

 

[Doug Romrell]

My daughter hits her elbow on her hip bone ... comes home from tourneys with a nasty bruise (and swelling) on her elbow.

With out a clip up close of her brush-assisted arm-whip, it would be hard to say for sure, but I'll bet she's getting an incorrect brush-assist as a likely result of not rotating the hip enough (toward 45-degrees). This would result in her contact point being on the bony part of her pelvis on the iliac crest. That can be a pretty hard area for the inside of the elbow to hit.

I'd like to see how/if her upper arm comes to her side. Any clip?

 

[pumpkinbear]

My daughter hits her elbow on her hip bone when pitching and comes home from tourneys with a nasty bruise (and swelling) on her elbow.

Note that the pitcher in FFS's gif contacts his hip with the side of his elbow. Not the tip. Rick Pauly addresses (about 30 seconds in) this here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBP19qvFdK0

Your dd can improve her brush/whip with the lock-it-in drill in this javasource video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T4Jd7GKg5Q .

 

[superg]

With out a clip up close of her brush-assisted arm-whip, it would be hard to say for sure, but I'll bet she's getting an incorrect brush-assist as a likely result of not rotating the hip enough (toward 45-degrees). This would result in her contact point being on the bony part of her pelvis on the iliac crest. That can be a pretty hard area for the inside of the elbow to hit.

I'd like to see how/if her upper arm comes to her side. Any clip?

Thanks for this and all the other replies, everyone. I will try to get and put up a clip this week, but now that you've pointed out where the hips should be at contact/release, I think that is indeed the problem. I know from watching her pitch from behind that her hips are totally open when her upper arm/elbow contacts her body. After reading your thoughts and comparing it to the gif and the Rick Pauly clip and information that pumpkinbear so kindly shared, I think you are really on to something. I just purchased an elbow pad at Dick's for the meantime, but I think this is what likely needs to be corrected. Any ideas on how to cue her to start closing her hips a bit sooner? Hopefully I'll get that clip this week at her practice.

And thanks so much for all of your replies. This forum is so helpful AND so friendly. What a find!

Cheers!

 

[Doug Romrell]

I think it's likely more about her drive mechanics not letting her hips rotate. I'll just bet she opens way too early.

 

[Ken B]

I think Doug and pumpkinbear nailed it. Compare what you see in FFS's link to any game video you have of DD.

Get the hip into position with proper posture with an emphasis on how the drive leg adducts as demo'd in javasoure's clip. Counterintuitive, but like you mentioned, setting everything up for the inside of the elbow to contact behind the hip bone is an important key.

The PC's cue to force a bend is s bit worrisome to me because it could inadvertently make things worse. An elbow pad may be like a bandaid on an infected wound, but I wouldn't discourage it along with a good intervention. I would be very certain that a couple corrections could completely eliminate any pain or bruising without the pad.