Shoulder Flexibility

The act of throwing a baseball is a tremendous biomechanical movement that places stress on many areas of the body, especially the shoulder and elbow. One of the fastest human movement’s recorded, a pitcher’s shoulder can rotate at angular velocities exceeding 7000 degrees/second while throwing fastball creating increased stress at both the elbow and shoulder. The repetitive nature of throwing is another factor that plays a role in injury. Continued throwing activity stresses the front of the shoulder during the wind up, and the back of the shoulder during the follow through movement. Additionally, the act of throwing requires strength and mobility from the hips and legs, through the core, all of the way to the athlete’s upper extremity. All in all, throwing a baseball is a beautiful and powerful movement when done correctly, but can be a cause of injury when done incorrectly or too frequently.

              Nearly every successful pitcher works hard on the flexibility of their shoulder and elbow, thoracic spine, and hips to increase their chances of success during competition. Repetitive throwing often leads to tightness or loss of mobility in elbow extension, shoulder internal rotation, thoracic mobility, and hip flexibility so a program of maintenance stretching can be beneficial for the overhead athlete.

              Shoulder stretching focuses primarily on increasing shoulder rotation flexibility and posterior shoulder mobility through the sleeper stretch, cross body stretching, and stretching the latissimus dorsi muscle. These stretches can be seen below.

              Thoracic spine stretching is critical for the overhead athlete as well. Throwing requires mobility of the shoulder and the thoracic spine, so improving mobility of the spine can decrease stress on the shoulder joint and surrounding musculature. Rotational stretches such as the open book stretch and thoracic extension stretching such as the extension stretch over a chair or a foam roll are excellent for maintaining mobility of the thoracic spine.

              Finally, a pitcher at any level of competition may benefit from total body flexibility exercise including stretches for the hamstrings, hip flexors and hip external rotators with these stretches.

If you have questions about improving your flexibility as an overhead athlete, give is a call today! If you are looking for a good sports physical therapist in Cincinnati, Ohio please contact us now!