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A
Baseball Pitcher Who Found a Stinger in His Neck
I love getting
questions from all of you. It challenges my thinking
and adds spice to the day.
Bob from
Massachusetts has been a long-time BioForce Faithful
reader. He has a young son who is quite a ball
player and Bob coaches other youth baseball players
as well.
He asks a great
question about starting the season and some aches
and pains…
"Bill, Good morning. I wanted to run something
by you to see if you have dealt with it before.
Robbie (9 year old pitcher) has just
transitioned from hitting/fielding only winter
focus and has started throwing off the mound.
In
each of his first two sessions he has been
stopped by a "stinger" on the right side of his
neck (he is right handed). By most accounts he
has solid mechanics but they have been trying to
get him to "speed up" his pace to the point of
delivery. I'm wondering if perhaps he is
snapping his head out of the way to make room
for a higher arm slot. I'm not sure as I don't
have video to confirm it. Have you ever dealt
with this?
Thanks for your thoughts...
~
Bob"
Great question. First
off, without seeing his mechanics, it's impossible
to say what might be causing his stinger in his
neck. Could be a stress from the hitting, playing in
the snow the day before, a ton of things.
But one thing caught
my eye when reading your email Bob, the fact that he
has transitioned to the mound right from hitting and
fielding in the off-season. I would say he is going
to the mound way too early.
Pitching off the
mound places a lot more stress on all the joints of
the body than throwing off flat ground. I would
start on flat ground and work your way up to the
mound after a progressive program to build up arm
endurance. A progressive weekly long-toss program
can do the trick. Work up slowly to 4 sets of 15
long toss throws before jumping on the mound. And I
mean slowly. This week, maybe work up to 1 set of 15
long toss throws. Next week, maybe one set of 15 and
then a set of 5 to 8….and so on.
Some people say long
toss builds arm strength. I disagree. Long toss
builds arm endurance and arm speed. Arm strength is
built with proper shoulder and elbow conditioning,
not throwing.
How far should you
long toss? Each time it can be different depending
on how you feel that day. The mistake I see most
pitchers make is stretching it out too far for what
their body can handle. They make compensations with
their body to get the ball to the far distance, and
then we've grooved a bad throwing motion. So, throw
only as far as you can with efficient mechanics like
we've discussed in our DVD "How
to Become a More Athletic, Explosive, and Powerful
Pitcher."
Also, build a better
base of strength in the shoulder and elbow with our
"12-Minute
Shoulder and Elbow Endurance Solution DVD's."
In terms of the
stinger and his head moving, you bet that can cause
something like that. My guess, and that's what it
is, just a guess, is he is starting too early on the
mound and possibly trying to throw too hard too
fast. You also mentioned they are trying to speed up
his pace to the point of delivery. I'd like to hear
more about that.
I hope that helps
Bob. Send me a video clip of Robbie, and I'll be
happy to comment on his mechanics.
Until next time…
Let's train like a
champion today!
P.S. Here are the
links to the two DVD's. "How
to Become a More Athletic, Explosive, and Powerful
Pitcher."……
"12-Minute
Shoulder and Elbow Endurance Solution DVD's."
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