How to Prevent Shoulder Injuries When Pitching

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Mickey Hiter with Sandlott Baseball. The question has been asked, "How to prevent shoulder injuries in baseball?" First thing it's important to know that we have four major muscles in the shoulder area and the tendons that go with those muscles and that collectively is called the rotator calf. And these injuries can be occurred from bad mechanics in pitching; from not being in shape and overuse and many other things. It's crucial that number one; before you pitch a baseball game that you have good fundamentals in pitching. You need to be able to use your core section in your legs as well as your arm when you're throwing. Secondly, you need to be on a regimented long toss program or sometime of workout, use of bands to strengthen the shoulder area; to do some preventive maintenance and keep us from having the shoulder injuries. And lastly, make sure that, that we don't overuse ourselves. There are some good guidelines on many different websites on how many pitches a guy should throw in a day or in a period of four days. Usually if you throw thirty pitches, you can pitch almost everyday. A lot of closures do that. If you get upwards of that, then you're going to need two, three days rest. If you're a starter and you pitch over seventy pitches, you need, you need not to pitch until at least the fourth day. So there needs to be some maintenance there and not overusing yourself. Most injuries are cause from poor mechanics and overuse. So if you don't want a shoulder injury or even an elbow injury, get on a good program to get yourself in shape; number two, develop good fundamentals in pitching mechanics in using your core section, your body and three, do not, do not overuse the, the wonderful tool that's been given to you as a pitcher. So take care of yourself, get yourself in good shape, use good fundamentals and that will drastically reduce the number of shoulder injuries."