Injuries

[TheRogue]

Attended the National Softball Coaches Clinic in Portland this last weekend. It was great, lots of great information. One of the things that was stressed was the amount of players now that are one-sport athletes, and how they are often "out of balance". This hit home for me, because my DD, who's a pitcher, has an elbow tendon injury. How did she do it? If you can believe it..FLEXING her bicep! Like lots of pitchers, her one bicep is pretty large. She was flexing at practice, and her elbow made a "pop" loud enough for some of the girls to hear it. Now, doctor's orders she's off softball activity for 3 more weeks and will re-evaluate after that.

What is interesting? A large bicep, a large fore-arm...and almost no tricep. I'm not a doctor, but I'm going to make a WAG diagnosis of the problem and say her right-arm muscles were over-balanced and that's what caused the injury.

One of the presenters at the Clinic made a really good point about hitters as well. A hitter will take literally thousands of swings from one side, firing and building those muscles in a certain way, from the calf all the way up through the neck. Ok....so what about the other side? This is absolutely going to put a body out-of-balance, unless you compensate for it with some sort of other activity (conditioning and weight training).

Of course, pitching is probably the worst for possibly developing certain muscles to the detriment of others, but as described above, hitting can do the same thing. Once players get into the college ranks, there's more time and control to include weight lifting into the yearly routine. But for HS and travel ball, how many actually get that done? We all "need" more time for practice, whether it's hitting or grounders or pitching or catching.... but are we doing our players a disservice by not at least acknowledging the issues we can be creating with the muscle specialization that results?

BTW....a great Coaches Clinic from top to bottom, would recommend it to anyone.

TR

 

[RubberBiscuit]

Ya not only did major league baseball see many many oblique injuries last year but my DD was hit hard with that nagging injury too.

So many pitches/throws/bat swings,..... It shouldn't have been a surprise.

I do think the key was the lack of "ramping-up". Too many folks just increase full-power reps way too fast. (assuming mechanics are sound of course)

 

[chinamigarden]

My dds TB coach has a weekly hitting practice in his pole barn (yeah I know) and part of it is weight lifting, pushups, and core work with medicine balls. The girls are asked to do pushups and other exercises every week on their own. Is is enough to balance things out? I don't know but he is trying to get them to develop a fitness program away from practices.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

It is my feeling (PE degree) that one day of exercise/week, is worthless. You need to exercise every other day, for it to make any difference.

I really like the Finchwindmill, to keep softball players balanced out, in the shoulders. Of course, the girl must use it for it to do any good. A similar exercise can be accomplished using exercise bands. There are many programs on Youtube.

I suggest exercising every other day, on top of softball practice. It doesn't have to be very long. You can get a lot done in 15 minutes.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

I ask/make my DD do laps in the pool. That way she works both arms and the less weight/stress factor too. Worked better when she was younger, now seems to be more laying on the raft soaking up rays!!!