Weight Transfer

[FiveFrameSwing]

Based off of this picture would you say that men and women achieve balance the same?

Female Sports: Are They Worth the Tears? - Ashley Corral

What I am saying is that the studies were fairly clear. Women/girls are more prone to ACL injuries. It was also shown that training and conditioning can meaningfully help prevent ACL injuries. The common recommendation is that woman/girls involved in athletic endeavors should train and condition their bodies so that they are less prone to ACL injuries. The conclusion was NOT that some non-Hanson-Principle-compliant batting mechanics should be used.

If your message is that girls should condition their bodies to play an athletic sport, then I'm all for that. I like the concept of "build the athlete first". If on the other hand you are using this as an excuse to invent batting mechanics that aren't supported in use by those that make it to playing this game at the higher levels, then that would be questionable IMO.

 

[RayR]

There are two ways this drill can be done:

1) they use a high leg kick and the hips rotate back over the upper leg
2) they use a high leg kick and the hips rotate into the upper leg

I have not seen a girl try this drill and ever use the #2 version.

And so if they are using #2 are they really coiling/shifting back or just figuring out a way to do the drill and slide the hips back and forth?

The main purpose of the negative weight shift is to latch onto the rear upper leg. That is why a simple coil will do it.

Using pressure in the rear foot will keep the upper leg solid, but you can still slide the hips over the femur and not into it. Someone already mentioned that the rear knee will lock out during the coil if they are doing it wrong no matter what the rear foot is doing.

One of the drills I use is to have the girls wind up like a baseball pitcher with a high leg kick and throw the ball. As they do that I tell them to experiment with the feel of it, to try to feel the various effects of the weight shift.

When they are batting I use the same drill--kick stride--and have them exaggerate the hip coil (show the pitcher your hip pocket). Instead of rigidly following my exact instructions I have them experiment with shifting that load into hitting off of a tee.

I don't necessarily encourage a kick stride but I have two who are actually doing just that. Not sure yet but the kick stride looks pretty promising for game-time weight shift.

Anyone have kids using a kick stride? If so, what's your take on it?

 

[Wellphyt]

Softball and baseball skills indoor training facility and services This is Dave Paetkau web site. He was one of the first hitting coaches I worked with that taught kids how to feel correct weight shift. He had them stand with the back foot elevated on a 2X4. Don Slaught (Right View Pro- X hitting coach of the Detroit Tigers) Is now using a slanted box to have them put the back foot on during the swing to get them to feel weight shift. Howard Carrier is now having them stand with the back foot on a box to feel weight shift during the throwing motion. Mike Candrea has posted that most incoming players at AZ, do not understand weight shift and he shows all incoming freshman how to correctly throw. I would think weight shift is a big issue and at least these gentlemen all agree and have come up with ideas on how to teach and get girls to feel it. This should get us back to the ? how do you teach it. Nice post Chris on Q Angle. Got to talk to Dave during his clinic. Peppers that is exactly what Don is teaching and the device you mention. Peppers we have a big fan and a freind down in the SEC in Coach B at Arkansas. He is one of the better college coaches teaching hitting, if you ever get a chance to to one of his clinics,

Using a slanted box to teach weight shift is not new. We have a local instructor that has been using one for at least two years. I'm not going to get into the merits of it's usefullness, but it sure seemed to me when I watched this instructor use it, that it was designed for those who believe the weight shift is linear? Which is the common belief in FP.

I agree that most girls don't weight shift when they throw overhand. Have you ever tried to throw a ball overhand the way that girls are commonly instructed? I have. I can't weight shift correctly. All I do is push the ball forward with my arm.

What I see happening is that girls are instructed to throw overhand incorrectly. Which results in them not throwing correctly. So the coaches do stuff like have them hop off boxes to try and get them to throw correctly. My view is that maybe the girls wouldn't need the box if they were taught properly from the start.

 

[cshilt]

Some females look exactly like that; most female athletes I've seen don't look like that. Most of the ones that look like that don't usually make the cut. I'm not even sure there is much that can be done physically there other than extra attention to strengthening the supporting muscles.

I'm sorry, but an increased Q angle is the norm, rather than then exception in females (including athletes).

"Q angle" is an abbreviation for the quadriceps femoris muscle angle. In a standing position, this angle is derived by drawing a line from the anterior superior iliac spine to the center of the patella.2 A second line is drawn from the center of the patella to the tibial tubercle. The normal angle in males is 13o and 18o in females.3 (See Figure B.) This angle is increased in females due to their wider pelvis. (See Figure C.)

Reference: Women in Sports, Q Angle, and ACL Injuries

BTW, I am NOT saying that females are more likely to incur an ACL injury while batting. There is very little evidence to suggest that a weight shift during the batting motion is dangerous. I'm merely trying to point out the anatomical difference between males and females.

 

[RayR]

Well - I have an exercise I have the girls do that I tell them it is teach rear knee drive. But, really all it is learning how to turn back and forth to move forward. When done right you can start at one end of the floor and twist back and forth your way across the floor...

 

[cshilt]

Well - I have an exercise I have the girls do that I tell them it is teach rear knee drive. But, really all it is learning how to turn back and forth to move forward. When done right you can start at one end of the floor and twist back and forth your way across the floor...

Sorta inching your way across the floor?

 

[Poseidon]

If I may interject... in regards to the Q angle and ACL injuries please see this quote from Hewett`s review article (Hewett TE, Myer GD, Ford KR. Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries in Female Athletes: Part 1, Mechanisms and Risk Factors. Am J Sports Med 2006, 34 (2); 299-311.)

"Static Q angle measures do not appear to be predictive of either knee valgus or ACL injury risk during dynamic movement, thus supporting further exploration of other dynamic neuromuscular factors and their role in limb alignment during landing and cutting.37,77"

Furthermore, recent evidence on the femoral notch width doesn't support it's role in the increased non-contact ACL injuries in Women.

"Other reports show no difference in notch width normalized to bone width in female and male athletes or an association between notch width and injury.2,43,47,54"

So it does seem that other factors are implicated. One of my research line is the control of hamstring activity during locomotion and we have some evidence that hamstring contractions have a different neural mechanisms between genders. If that is so, since the neural system is so plastic this could be the main reason why having more motor experiences (which is what the ACL program are) might be efficacious.

Hope that can help,
Michel Ladouceur, PhD
Department of Kinesiology
Dalhousie University

 

[RayR]

Picture Pujols releasing the back foot so the rear knee ends up even with the front knee. Then coil the hips back again step/stride forward and repeat the back foot.

Sorta inching your way across the floor?

View attachment 944View attachment 943

 

[cshilt]

If I may interject... in regards to the Q angle and ACL injuries please see this quote from Hewett`s review article (Hewett TE, Myer GD, Ford KR. Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries in Female Athletes: Part 1, Mechanisms and Risk Factors. Am J Sports Med 2006, 34 (2); 299-311.)

"Static Q angle measures do not appear to be predictive of either knee valgus or ACL injury risk during dynamic movement, thus supporting further exploration of other dynamic neuromuscular factors and their role in limb alignment during landing and cutting.37,77"

Furthermore, recent evidence on the femoral notch width doesn't support it's role in the increased non-contact ACL injuries in Women.

"Other reports show no difference in notch width normalized to bone width in female and male athletes or an association between notch width and injury.2,43,47,54"

So it does seem that other factors are implicated. One of my research line is the control of hamstring activity during locomotion and we have some evidence that hamstring contractions have a different neural mechanisms between genders. If that is so, since the neural system is so plastic this could be the main reason why having more motor experiences (which is what the ACL program are) might be efficacious.

Hope that can help,
Michel Ladouceur, PhD
Department of Kinesiology
Dalhousie University

Thank you for the information. While I certainly have an interest in avoiding ACL injury, particularly since my own DD was, at one point, diagnosed as an "at risk" candidate, my interest in the Q angle is more related to how the Q angle affects balance. As a kinesiologist, do you have any information with regard to the differences between balance points between males and females?

 

[SBFAMILY]

After spending two years going to a Therapist with my dd on knee and back issues related to playing sports I would be interested in that also Chris. I do know after talking to Marc and other trainers we made those issues go away with proper training to address her weaker muscle groups. I just wish we had done it when she was younger and sure would have saved me a ton of $$.