The Relationship Between Pitching Mechanics, Shoulder Injury and Pain in Collegiate Baseball Pitchers

Baseball is one of the most beloved sports in the United States. Little League baseball alone supports over 200,000 teams each year in addition to numerous high school, college, minor league and professional baseball teams. The component of pitching is important to study because it is one of the most dynamic and fastest human motions in all of sports. Pitching requires a complex coordination of the feet, legs, trunk and upper extremity in order to generate a high velocity of the ball. Since such a large amount force is generated, the shoulder undergoes maximal stress during a pitch because the shoulder muscles are transferring that force onto the ball. Each year, overhead activities, such as pitching, are the cause of many injuries to the shoulder. Rotator cuff tears, labral lesions, biceps tendonitis and shoulder impingement are the most common injuries caused by the overhead throwing motion. Previous research has debated if improper pitching mechanics cause acute pain or if overuse of the shoulder is the primary cause of shoulder pain. Understanding the proper biomechanics, effective use of pitching counts, phases of pitching, and the effect of different pitches on the shoulder can help to reduce injury because this knowledge enables pitchers and coaches to be more aware of the causes of potential shoulder injuries. The purpose of this research study is to discover whether abnormal shoulder pitching mechanics causes shoulder pain in collegiate baseball pitchers