Pitching Delivery and the Correlation to Arm Injury

1. Pitching Delivery and the Correlation to Arm Injury Kathryn Flynn

2. Types of pitch delivery • Overhand • ¾ • Sidearm • Submarine

3. Overhand (side view)

4. ¾ (front view)

5. ¾ (side view)

6. Sidearm (front view)

7. Sidearm (side view)

8. Submarine • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL59Xigb1dM

9. Clinical Study of baseball pitchers: correlation of injury to the throwing arm with method of Delivery • A study by: James Albright, Peter Jokl, Robert Shaw, and John Albright • INCLUDE SUMMARY OF RESEARCH FROM ANNOTATED ONE • This research was conducted in 1973 with 18 college and 55 Little League pitchers and again in 1974 with 54 Little League pitchers • Symptoms were present in 61% of college and 51% of Little League pitchers • Elbow symptoms were more common in Little League pitchers; elbow and shoulder symptoms were equally common in college pitchers • Elbow symptoms were more severe in both age groups • Pitchers graded 4 or 5 had more symptoms and symptoms were more severe • Conclusion: Those who used a more horizontal arm slot had worse symptoms in the shoulder and elbow area, with the elbow being worse

10. Why I chose to replicate this study • Dated, but still reliable information • It is not hard to reconstruct, with a few differences • The study is straightforward and not hard for pitchers to understand • It is important for coaches and pitchers to know which arm slot will cause less stress to the elbow and shoulder • To see if the information has changed any in the past 41 years or if the results are still the same

11. Differences • High school and college pitchers instead of Little League and college • The pitchers graded themselves on: • Verticalness and horizontalness • Symptoms • In the original study the pitchers were evaluated after their season, in mine they evaluate themselves after a single game • Albright evaluated the pitchers in his study, while in mine the pitchers are evaluating themselves

12. Who participated • I asked pitchers at Strasburg High School, Central High School, Stonewall High School, Shenandoah University, West Virginia State, and Radford University. • Strasburg pitchers filled out questions after multiple games in order to obtain an average pitch count per inning • Central and Stonewall pitchers answered questions at the beginning and end of the season to see if there was any difference between the two • Radford, West Virginia State, and Shenandoah pitchers only answered the questions one time

13. questions • What arm slot do you pitch? • Please rate your arm level from 0-5; 0 being completely vertical, 5 being completely horizontal. • What is your lead arm/shoulder/leg? • How many innings did you pitch? • After the game please rate your symptoms from 0-5 based on this table: (symptoms include discomfort and/or pain to the elbow and/or shoulder)

14. Symptoms:

15. Questions (cont.) • The symptoms are in the shoulder and elbow area only. If you have swelling please indicate where shading:

16. Questions (cont.) • Two questions were added for college pitchers and the second round of questions for high school pitchers. • Do you use scapular loading (pinching shoulder blades together mid-windup)? • What is your average pitch speed? (Estimate if needed)

17. General info: • 15 pitches per inning