Shoulder Muscle Firing Patterns in Overhead Sports
Going back a bit to talk muscle activity, Escamilla and Andrews (2009) reviewed many previously published research studies that measured shoulder muscle activity during different sports movements. Most of the data came from studies using electromyography (EMG), which records when muscles turn on and how hard they work. The review focused heavily on overhead throwing […]
College Pitchers vs. Youth Pitchers
Downs Talmage et al. (2021) studied 83 softball pitchers—40 youth players and 43 collegiate players—to see how their lower-body mechanics differed during the windmill pitch. Each pitcher threw three fastballs for a strike while wearing electromagnetic motion-capture sensors that tracked joint angles, angular velocities, hip movement, stride length, and center-of-mass (COM) position throughout the pitch. […]
Strength Training for Softball Pitchers, Part 1
I want to help coaches and athletes with some bullets on strength and conditioning for a pitcher. I generally advise players and parents in my biomechanics camps that I can’t be there to train every pitcher. However, I can try to give you guidelines to pick the right coach. Here are some of the keys […]
Elbow Flexion, Shoulder Distraction and Velocity
I wanted to do a newer article this week reviewing Bordelon et al. (2022) Peak Elbow Flexion Does Not Influence Peak Shoulder Distraction Force or Ball Velocity in NCAA Division I Softball Pitchers. The study involved 61 female NCAA Division I softball pitchers (average age about 19.9 years) who threw three maximal-effort fastballs while being […]
The Non-Dominant Leg and the Softball Pitch
Stride-leg mechanics → performance (Bottom line): Pitchers who land balanced and create a quick, late front-side block tend to rotate the pelvis/trunk faster and get better ball speed/efficiency. Stride-leg mechanics → injury (Bottom line): Poor front-side posting (too soft, too early/too late, or valgus-collapsed) and restricted lead-hip IR are consistent red flags tied to the […]
Stride Length and Shoulder Distraction
I wanted to do a newer article this week reviewing Oliver et al. (2023) The Relationship Between Stride Mechanics and Shoulder Distraction Force in Collegiate Softball Pitchers. They studies studied 63 NCAA Division I softball pitchers to find out whether the way they stride during a pitch affects the amount of force placed on their […]
Injury Rates in 2011
This week we are going back to softball pitcher epidemiology. Shanley et al. (2011) followed 247 high‐school athletes from 11 schools in Greenville, South Carolina, who played either softball or baseball. They collected data during one season on each athlete’s “athlete exposures” (which means each time a player was in a practice or game) and […]
Energy Flow, Hip Range of Motion and Strength
For today’s article I wanted to dip your toe in a concept called energy flow. Energy flow in biomechanics refers to the analysis of how mechanical energy is generated, transferred, and absorbed throughout the body’s different segments during movement, essentially tracking the “flow” of energy through the kinetic chain, from larger proximal joints to smaller […]
Energy Flow with and without Pain
This week I want to continue to build on the concept of energy flow. In the article Pelvis and Trunk Energy Flow in Collegiate Softball Pitchers With and Without Upper Extremity Pain, Bordelon et al. (2022) measured 54 collegiate pitchers’ energy flow. They also surveyed the pitchers for any pain they were experiencing. They split […]
Werner et al. (2006) Seminal Article
I am going to go back old school to one of the seminal articles of softball biomechanics. Werner et al. (2006) measured 24 elite pitchers from the 1996 Olympic games with a mean age of 25 to determine specific kinematics of the pitch. Their sample had a mean velocity of 60.4 mph, much faster than […]