America's Pastime is taking its toll!

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by Mike Napierala, PT, SCS, CSCS, FAFS

It’s that time of year again. America’s Pastime is taking its toll!

It seems like every year around this time we are constantly reminded how frail a Major League baseball player’s career is. It would be easy to assemble an all-star staff of pitchers who have undergone Tommy John surgery (ulnar collateral reconstruction). The season is not even a quarter of the way through and already 13 starting pitchers are being put under the knife.

Have you ever asked yourself why this elbow ligament keeps failing?  Why don’t all the other ligaments that get used and abused in sports fail? Famous orthopedic surgeon James Andrews in a recent USA Today article reports, “It seems like every year I’m doing more and more, so from my standpoint it’s an epidemic.” Even Tommy John, the famous pitcher who first went through this procedure more than 30 years ago, says it is “unreal” how many pitchers are having surgery.

Pitchers are throwing harder and at younger and younger ages, creating increased stress to the delicate ligament in the elbow. But it does not have to be that way. Sure, there’s an absolute value in monitoring and limiting the volume of pitching that young throwers do.  But the real key comes in appreciating the need to get the whole body working together and properly so the elbow is only seeing its fair share of the loading. 

At Peak Performance, our biomechanical approach looks at the way the body functions as a whole. Oftentimes when treating our pitchers/throwers with elbow discomfort, we see a variety of ailments.

The majority of our patients are dealing with decreased ankle range of motion, opposite hip tightness, decreased spinal rotation, poor scapular motion and dynamic stability, and/or weakness in the shoulder/elbow, all of which cause significant increased stress to their throwing elbow.

If you know anyone who has been experiencing pain in their elbow while throwing or is about to undergo the famous Tommy John surgery and would like more information, you can schedule an evaluation with one of our therapists at Peak Performance Physical Therapy.

Call our office at (585) 218-0240 and we would be happy to help you see beyond just your elbow to the bigger picture and get back to the things you love.