Movement Pattern Mystery?

[Mike-Coach Q]

I feel it’s a bracing issue of the torso and shoulders.

 

[mmeece]

From what I am able to see in these videos she does force an early shoulder/torso turn which leads her to a poor posture with a bit of "butt out" release, no brush at release, and poor FSR. She's going to have to really focus on driving completely straight out with a "feel" as if she isn't turning her hips at all. Then try to keep the head, torso, and hips stacked directly on top of each other all the way through release so that her hip can receive the forearm for the brush at release. It's just almost impossible for her to get much whip right now even if she was keeping a better arm bend (which she does need) because she has her hips completely cleared and her arm just swings through.

 

[LW23]

Thanks for the insight into what your DD went through. It does sound like our kids had a similar diagnosis. Our Dr. recommended 6 weeks of rest which she did, but she still reports intermittent mild pain, mostly throwing overhand rather than pitching. It would seem we didn't take enough time off. I do think overuse is a major factor in my DD's issue. She pitched 120 inns. in HS last Fall, then instead of resting, we felt compelled to do some camps over the winter (that was likely a mistake) and her mechanical issue cropped up by Feb. The pain presented much later, but as you mentioned the weakness could've led to other parts of the arm (ulna) picking up the slack and here we are. Once the mechanical issue occurred, she was definitely not overused, I think she had no more than 30 inn. from Feb-July, but the pain started anyway. She is not pitching much in HS now and it sounds like prolonged rest is the most immediate course of action. The timing is brutal since the schools we're currently talking to will move on, but it is what it is I suppose.

Throwing overhand was what caused my DD's initial discomfort. We had to fix her form when she returned from her lay off. I know you asked for form issues in relation to the results you are experiencing. I can tell you that if her arm is hurting when she attempts to pitch, she will change her form to attempt to reduce the pain. We just went through it, and I believe the 12 weeks we took off may have been on the conservative side. No throwing what so ever during that time. DD pitched in her first tourney this past weekend and all she kept talking about was how awesome it was to pitch pain free.

 

[yougonnaeatthat]

First, congratulations on your daughters success. Had a similar experience. Girl had the same forearm issues as yours did. Did not rest enough after injury. Rested, fixed form, fixed pain. Very similar form(more sideways led, rather than driving forward) to what your pitcher was preinjury. Lot of extra shoulder movement, not a lot of stabilizing. Both seem to have good lower left half front side resistance. In these two cases, it appears as though the body position at front foot landing is not ideal. The drive leg appears to have taken forward momentum back and left(toward first) as opposed to continuing to rotate forward, while the upper body continues to rotate against this motion, and the shoulder says “Here we GO”. Your pitcher’s injury appears to have exasperated this deviation. I believe working on driving her hips out will help. I also believe the hips should also lead the closing portion of the throw. Focusing on getting the hips where they belong, when they belong there. Better posture should help with body positioning and vice versa. One other thing before I forget, her glove arm(unless it’s a different pitch and she has a bad tell), is way lower in the post injury video. Sorry so long, but there’s a lot to unpack. Good luck to you and your daughter.