Windmill Pitch a Risk to Pitcher's Health?

Specific preventive conditioning is known... discuss with a physical therapist or Orthopedic. I mentioned above what needs to be done in general... The sport is too young with respect to coaches knowing how to condition to prevent pitching injuries.

The recognition of injuries caused by pitching is the first step in the sport understanding what is needed... the article was vague but if the purpose was to put the subject on the table then it served a purpose. It makes no sense to stick fingers in your ears and pretend it isnt happening... When you schedule your DD for shoulder surgery, you'll know.

Other sports are further along with better skills coaching and injury prevention knowledge. Softball will get there but not by ignoring it or claiming it cant exist.


For example... sending a pitcher in to relieve in the middle of an inning with ZERO warmup... BIG TIME NO NO. But it happens... see it in High School Ball. Pitchers should be warming up and stretching all the time during a game, not sitting on a bench waiting to be called in.

 

What would be a reasonable pitch count per game? Rest between games?

 

conditioning

Where do you think is the proper place to run hurdles? How many other girls popped their knee doing hurdles the day yours did? I think running hurdles is conditioning and it improves footwork and quickness, I think thats why college softball,baseball and the pro players use them. It comes down to being a top athlete some have the ability and some don't.

 

The problem is . . .

that know one really knows. I don't think there is a scientific basis established for this decision in baseball or softball. We know that baseball pitchers used to throw a lot more pitches than today. The concept of the relief pitcher really didn't come about until the '50's and the middle reliever in the 70's. Modern strength and conditioning really didn't evolve until the '70's either yet today's baseball pitchers throw far fewer pitches than their grandfather's. The problem is that the career of almost all softball pitchers ends at 21 or 22 so the whole training culture is not to be concerned about longterm health outcomes. I could tell you how I trained my DD but it's one kid. My basic belief is that most kids do throw too much but, again, it's a just a belief.

 

Bingo!!

Poor conditioning, Poor mechanics, and lack of common sense on the part of the coaching staff will expose an athlete to injuries.

While doing everything right will not protect an athlete from injury, doing everything wrong will certainly enhance their chances.

The first step is educating the coaches.... at all levels.....

 

I don't think hurdles need to be used at all outside of college or professional ranks. If it's so grand an idea why don't more do it? Call me prejudiced if you want because my DD did tear an ACL on them, but until yours does I'm not going to or try to convince you of anything. You saw some college or pro player usung hurdles so you decided it's the right thing to do, so good for you. Being a top athlete has nothing to do with it. They are not immune to injuries and stupidity, even ones in top physical condition. If one player pops an ACL or anything else at ANYTIME, that's one major injury too many. There is allot of education on how to prevent injuries through PROPER conditioning, as well as footwork and conditioniing drills to help improve speed and agility. God forbid you never have to go through an ACL, or a torn rotator cuff, or anthing major. It's no picnic. To get back to the original intent of this thread....WndMillr IS correct, ".....The first step is educating the coaches.... at all levels...."

 

Much easier than what you're making it:
Eat too much, might need bigger pants. Pitch too much, might hurt arm.
(Exercise has nothing to do with it.)

 

Research

It seems that a significant amount of future research will have to go into this. We are so much further along in understanding fastpitch from where we were 10 years ago. I would like to think that 10 years from now, we will all have a greater understanding of the fastpitch player, and the effect of the game on the player's body... (and the coach's head).

 

Injuries

I agree with Wndmillr. But also, I put some of the blame on over use. Our sons, when playing baseball prior to college, would never play 4 or 5 games in one day, with the pitcher pitching the majority of the innings. This mentality came from the long time belief that pitching softball was easier on the arm, because it was a natural motion. Although the shoulder is made to rotate in this manner, it is not natural to tork the shoulder the way it happens while actually pitching. We need to be more demanding that our daughters not play 4 and 5 games in one day and especially 3 or back to back to back. remember, you think you are preparing her for a four year college scholarship (degree), but what we are really doing, is setting her up for a lifetime of aches and pains.

 

The only regret I have was not learning more about physical conditioning and fundementals when we got started with softball. The assumption on my part was that whatever team my DD played on she would get the proper training to play the game, and she didn't. We had to go outside of the game to get it, and take it TO the game. Not one coach anywhere said to us, "if you want to play softball you need to go see an physical conditioning coach to get into shape, and an instructor to help you with the mechanics of the game." Education and research is the key to helping in the prevention/limitations of injuries, but it doesn't do one bit of good if coaches don't use it and give the proper advise. JMHO.