One week ago today, I received a phone call from a father of a high school baseball pitcher who began experiencing medial elbow pain on his pitching arm the previous Saturday while pitching in the state playoffs. The father asked if there was anything I could do since his son's team won and would be playing for the state championship in three days. I told the father that I would look at the young man.
The Division I committed left hander came to see me the next day. After some questioning he told me that his left elbow began hurting him four days earlier. More interestingly he confessed that his left shoulder had been "tight and sore" for a few weeks leading up to his left elbow symptoms. Upon further questioning, he also confessed that his low back, specifically his right low back, had been hurting him as well. I surprised him by asking him if he had a tendency to fall off towards third base when he was pitching. He answered, "Yes, how did you know?"
I had heard enough. I assessed the young lefty's internal rotation of his pitching shoulder. Knowing that a pitcher needs a MINIMUM of 60 degrees (preferably 70 - 75 degrees), my suspicions were confirmed as he had less than 45 degrees of internal rotation.
Next, I looked at the young man's right hip internal rotation. This is the direction a pitcher's plant leg's thigh has to rotate after ball release and trunk follow through. His internal rotation of his right hip (plant leg) was much less than his other leg. He also stated his right low back hurt when he did this maneuver.
I had a couple of options at this point. I could treat his left elbow symptoms with all of the bells and whistles a Certified Athletic Trainer has or I could treat the biomechanical stessors that were causing his elbow to overwork.
I chose, as I attempt to each time, to follow the advise of Czechoslovakian physician Carel Lewit who was quoted as saying, "He who treats the site of pain is often lost." When it comes to musculoskeletal pain, the area that hurts is often just a symptom of something else in the body that is underperforming.
Therefore, I spent three consecutive days addressing the young lefty's right hip and low back lack of mobility and his left shoulder lack of mobility.
Wishing you health and success,
Joe
P.S. Interested in knowing how the young man did? He pitched a complete game in THE championship game and his team are now State Champions!
P.P.S. He also got some little award called "MVP"!
