Aches and pains you are having in the pre-season are signals that something is off; it can be that you don’t have good warm-up habits, that you threw too much too soon, or that your mechanics need adjusting. In any case, your body has only way to get your attention and unfortunately soreness is its loudest voice.
The three areas that are the most vulnerable this time of the year are your biceps, the rear of your shoulder and your forearm. Pain or unusual soreness in any of these areas should be a signal to you to pay attention.
Here are some of the most easily recognizable causes of problems with these sensitive areas of a pitchers arm:
Biceps and or rear shoulder: these two body parts work together in the deceleration phase of the pitching motion. Make sure you well warmed-up in the shoulder and arm musculature before you throw a ball. Make sure you are finishing your pitching. Make sure you are releasing your elbow at the end of the arm path as you complete your follow-through.
Forearm: Make sure you are not introducing pitches other than a fastball too soon. Even though a change-up is easy on the elbow, it is more challenging to the forearm because of the spread-out position of the fingers for most of the popular grips. Having a program that maintains and improves the range-of-motion of the wrist for the different pitches is critical to forearm health. Remember that the forearm muscle is an endurance muscle; if you are not recovering or experiencing tightness in this part of the arm, something is not right as it is designed to endure.
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