EPOS TAPE: Baseball

ARE YOU PAINFUL DUE TO PLAYING BASEBALL ?

WHERE IS YOUR PAINFUL AREA ?

1. SHOULDER INJURIES

Shoulder pain is a common complaint among baseball players, especially pitchers, regardless of age or level of play. Pain experienced during the throwing motion results in an inability to throw with velocity, causing what is commonly referred to as "dead arm" syndrome. The cause of pain is most often injury to either the bones or the soft-tissue structures of the shoulder joint.

The 4 phases of throwing
To understand pain in the throwing shoulder, it is important to understand both the throwing mechanism and the anatomy of the shoulder joint. The act of throwing can be divided into 4 phases: (1) wind up, (2) cocking, (3) acceleration, and (4) deceleration (Fig. 1). Some add a fifth phase, follow-through.The unique anatomy of the shoulder joint allows a person to generate velocity while throwing.
The shoulder, like the hip, is a ball-and-socket joint (Fig. 2). However, unlike the hip where the ball fits tightly into the socket and is restricted, the shoulder ball (humeral head) fits loosely in the socket (glenoid) and is unrestricted, much like a golf ball on a tee. The farther one is able to bring the arm back into abduction (raised away from the side of the body) and external rotation, the faster the ball will go when released. This lack of restriction is a double-edged sword: it allows tremendous range of motion in the shoulder, making it possible to cock the arm back farther and throw with tremendous velocity. However, it also forces a reliance on relatively weak soft-tissue structures to maintain shoulder stability. These soft-tissue stabilizers feel the greatest stress during the throwing motion and are, therefore, the most frequently injured structures when this stress is applied repetitively.

-TAPING THERAPY(SHOULDER) -

2. ELBOW INJURIES

The most usual cause of elbow pain when throwing a baseball is simple overuse which wears down the elbow's anatomy. When throwing a baseball, the tendons on the outside of the arm are stretched to maximum capacity. Conversely, the tendons on the inside of the arm are greatly compressed. The problem is exacerbated in players who do not warm up and subsequently stretch tendons that are cold and stiff. In players that throw often, especially pitchers, the frequent high speed motion can cause weakness in these tendons, eventually causing small fractures and inflammation. Elbow tendonitis is especially common in young players who have not adopted proper prevention strategies.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/394737-elbow-pain-while-throwing-baseball/#ixzz2mTWPJRk6