Sliding--to be or not to be

...sorry swingaway but shorts have nothing to do with sliding safely.
Teach your kids to slide RIGHT, feet first or headfirst period.
Whats next, keep the kids out of the swimming pool because they've not learned to swim?
Raise the bar.

Note: BTW, those strawberries sticking to the bedsheets will make a kid want to slide properly! lol

 

Head first or feet first, it doesn't matter if the athlete is one of the 2 out of 10 who are competent at sliding. If they are one of the 8 out of 10 who are incompetent, they should probably not slide at all until they learn how.

Competent sliding requires practice of technique and tactics under the guidance of someone knowledgeable. Most players have no clue as to how to slide around a tag. A competent slider will instinctively attempt to avoid being tagged and can slide equally well on both sides. Most injuries that do occur take place when the slide is in a direct line toward the bag.

The orthopedist who recommends head first sliding probably understands the game and is giving good advice. If a sane person goes head first, it won't be an attempt to go through the defensive player straight into the bag.

 

I am stunned at the replies in this thread. Despite studies done by the American Journal of Sports Medicine; despite studies by the Mayo Clinic(both of which strongly believe in eliminating the head first slide) the elimination of head first slides at the youth level. The advent of litigation against the coaches who promote that style of slide.....and if betterbatter's statistics are correct in that 80% of players don't know how to slide...how in the world can any Dr recommend ignoring medical studies and records and promote a potentially more serious consequence.

Look, you are parents and you will do what you want. But to profess to others that head first sliding must be okay because a Dr told me it was is too important to go uncontested.

Check this site out. This is the new age we live in and are sprouting up nationwide. Attorneys have found another area to sue. This particular attorney does not refer to sliding, but to head first sliding. I bet he would salivate having a client with injuries being told by their Ortho Dr that he encourages head first slides.

http://www.rockywaltoninjurylawyers.com/txcontent/sci_prevention.php

 

From a sports medical journal:

"...explains that it is a common misconception among his patients that sliding feet first is safer than sliding headfirst. Research says not so. Sliding feet first is actually more dangerous and will earn you more days on the bench—or even in the doctor’s office."

Head first injuries. Most common: thumb sprains and cuts to arms and hands. Occasionally a a player may suffer a very slight concussion, risk considerably reduced by use of proper equipment (helmet). Reason there are less injuries releated to head first slide: "a player’s hands, chest and arms usually hit the ground first—taking most of the impact of the slide and actually protecting the head"

Foot first injuries. Common injuries: shoulder disloation, sprained ankles, cuts to leg, broken arms.

And according to the Americal Journal of Sports Medicine, feet first slide related injuries take longer to heal, and result in longer time benched due to injury.

From Neurological Sports Medicine: The injury rate was higher for feet first slides than for head first slides or divebacks.



What is most interesting, is while even medical experts disagree on which methodology of sliding can result in greatest and most catastrophic injury all agree on one thing:

The number one cause of slide injury, feet first or head first, is lack of training by the ball club on how to slide properly and to incorporate sliding practice into each practice.

 

I Want To See This First Hand !!

PM me how to obtain this information, I want to see it first hand !! You said you read it show it to me.

Thanks, Guru

 

From The Clinical Journal Of Sports:

This was a test to see which slide is quicker, there was no difference in this study, but read the last sentence:


Abstract


Objective: To determine the method of sliding that propels the baseball athlete to the desired base in the shortest amount of time. To assess the athlete's perception of the quickest, safest, and preferred sliding technique.
Design: A single occasion with repeated measures design was used. The independent variable was slide type, and the dependent variable was time.
Setting: The study was conducted in October 2000 at the University of Kentucky baseball complex.
Participants: Twenty collegiate baseball players.
Interventions: High-speed video (to 1/200th of second) analysis of 20 collegiate baseball players performing 3 trials each of both head-first and feet-first sliding techniques. Additionally, each participant was asked to complete a sliding survey.
Main Outcome Measures: The videotape of each slide performed was reviewed separately (using the same viewing equipment) by 2 of the study investigators. Slide type and time were recorded for each slide.
Results: There was no significant difference between head-first versus feet-first slide times (P = 0.357). The average time for feet-first slides was 3.67 seconds, while that for head-first was 3.65 seconds. Sixty-eight percent of the players felt that head-first slides were faster than feet-first slides. Seventy-four percent identified the feet-first slide as the technique they most used, while 90% of the athletes perceived the feet-first technique to be safer.
Conclusions: On average, head-first and feet-first sliding techniques employed at the end aspect of base running propel the baseball player to the base in similar times. The head-first sliding technique is perceived to be faster and more dangerous.

http://www.cjsportsmed.com/pt/re/cj...T0w7rQNfK7nJK6T!-2118404334!181195629!8091!-1

 

Similar Test : HMMMMMMMMMMM !!!

Also: The American Journal Of Sports Medicine

Head-First Versus Feet-First Sliding: A Comparison of Speed from Base to Base

Steven M. Kane, MD*, Hugh O. House, MD and Kristi A. Overgaard

[SIZE=-1]From the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]* Address correspondence and reprint requests to Steven M. Kane, MD, Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX 77555[/SIZE]

Background: Two basic baseball sliding techniques, feet-first and head-first, are taught at all levels of play. Because of the risk for injury to the upper extremities and the cervical spine during head-first sliding, it is potentially more dangerous than feet-first sliding. There is an assumption among coaches that head-first sliding is more aggressive and faster, but there has been no scientific study to prove this claim.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine which technique provides a faster slide into the base.
Study Design: Controlled field study.
Methods: A total of 60 players ranging from Little League to college level was analyzed. Each athlete was evaluated three times from a standing start at first base to either a head-first or feet-first touch of second base. Each athlete was also timed in a 40-yard sprint and his or her preferred sliding technique was recorded. Results: We found no statistically significant difference in speed between head-first and feet-first sliding at all levels of play in this s

 

http://ajs.sagepub.com/content/32/5/1189.abstract


Address correspondence to Barry P. Boden, MD, The Orthopaedic Center, 9711 Medical Center Drive, #201, Rockville, MD 20850 (e-mail: [email protected]).

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Methods: The authors reviewed 41 incidents of baseball injuries reported to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research from 1982 until 2002.

Results: There were an estimated 1.95 direct catastrophic injuries per year, or 0.43 injuries per 100,000 participants. The most common mechanisms of injury were a collision of fielders (9) or of a base runner and a fielder (8), a pitcher hit by a batted ball (14), and an athlete hit by a thrown ball (4). Catastrophic injuries included 23 severe head injuries, 8 cervical injuries, 3 cases of commotio cordis, and 2 cases each of a collapsed trachea and facial fractures. Three athletes sustained a severe head injury and facial fractures. Ten of the 41 injuries were fatalities.

Conclusions: Suggestions for reducing catastrophic injuries in baseball include teaching proper techniques to avoid fielding and baserunning collisions, protecting the pitcher via a combination of screens and/or helmets with faceguards, continued surveillance and modifications of the bat and ball, eliminating headfirst slides, and continued analysis of chest protectors and automatic external defibrillators for commotio cordis.

 

I'm going to stay out of this fight... I just know that it doesn't make sense to stick your head in somewhere that might be dangerous to your foot!

I have wondered, when watching the girls play, why so many of them go up to bat with their knee/sliding pads down around their ankle(s). Also, you see sliding shorts rolled up like they are more worried about tanlines then stretching a single into a double. It seems that many players don't anticipate, or are prepared for, a close play that will require getting down into the dirt.

 

Marlinfan - you mis-read my post. My comment was not about sliding safely but about their willingness to slide. It included the quote from NOGA 87's post that stated "anybody can be taught how to slide... but few are willing to do it"

My post was not about sliding safely but increasing the willingness to slide.

I coach a 8U rec team and we practice in long pants and we slide for 10 minutes in every practice. We start by sliding on carboard boxes until they are comfortable taking it to the dirt.

Try asking a 6 or 7 year old to slide in shorts - it'll never happen. But "set the bar" that they wear long pants, practice sliding twice a week and they will understand that it is expected of them in games. They will leave 8U with the ability and willingness to slide.