Reform Physical Therapy and Performance

Waterbags can be a great tool when utilized properly during the return to throw phase

During the return to throw phase it is essential that athletes learn to correct any mechanical flaws that may have contributed to their symptoms. Waterbags are a great tool to utilize when working to rebuild mechanics without having to drive a lot of stress through the throwing arm.

Water bag drills can be a great way to help pitches:

-Improve the control of their center of mass
-Increase segmentation and separation of hip rotation vs torso rotation
-train core stability and trunk posture.

One note of caution is that early on in the return to throw phase, players need to be cautious how they grip and hold these waterbags, in that the way athletes hold these bags could drive an increased amount of stress to recently repaired or healing structures.

Follow for more training tips on how to do return to throw right!
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A disconnected arm action is one of the most common issues that many players returning from injury or recent surgery struggle with

What is a “disconnected arm action”?

A disconnected arm action occurs when the player’s arm is moving out of sync with the rest of the body.

Energy is transferred proximally to distally, being that we want the rotation of the torso to cleanly transfer energy to the throwing arm. When the arm action is disconnected, it is not working in sync with the rotation of the torso to cleanly capture this energy and transfer it into the throw.

Why does this happen?

The body is smart and is constantly trying to protect itself. If the body does not believe it is ready to handle all of the energy transferred from the lower half through the trunk into the arm, it will find ways to compensate in order to protect itself.

While short term this may be okay, long term this is not a sustainable solution if you are trying to return to throwing at a high level.

So what do you do? How do we fix this?

1. Bulletproof the arm. A dialed in arm care program will prepare the arm to withstand these forces and help the body regain “trust” in the arm.

2. Gradual reintroduction of efficient throwing mechanics utilizing a constraints based approach to reteach the body how to coordinate the kinematic sequence and align with high level throwing pattern.

If you are struggling with a disconnected arm action. DM me the word “disconnected” and I will see if I can help.

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