One of the most overlooked seasons for a baseball player is the off-season. Whether you’ve played twenty games for your local high school team or fifty for your traveling summer team, the offseason is upon us. After playing so many games your body may need a break, but this might be the best time to keep your arm healthy for the upcoming season. The work put in during the offseason can really make or break your health during the long baseball season.
Working out legs and big powerful muscles tends to be the priority of a young players offseason, and this often overshadows simple arm care. Some of the most important exercises to keep your arm heathy can be very simple and easily worked into a basic workout routine. There is nothing wrong with spending the offseason trying to gain muscle and power to improve your game. It can be very easy to spend ten minutes before your workouts to address key muscles that protect the shoulder and it’s very beneficial in the long run.
The most common exercises for pitchers typically focuses on rotator cuff strengthening. While strengthening the rotator cuff is very important, the scapula (shoulder blade) is often forgotten about. The scapula plays a very important role in protecting the shoulder and even the elbow. The role of the scapula is to maintain a stable shoulder girdle on the ribcage during a throw. If there is weakness or inefficient recruitment of scapular stabilization muscles, stress will translate to either the shoulder or the elbow. This will create overuse injuries during a long season of pitching.
A good offseason program will include scapular exercises and rotator cuff exercises. But what exercises should you do? Let’s go over some great exercises that you can add into your program to get your arm ready for the spring season and stay healthy as long as possible!
If you are in need of pre or post surgical care, general re-conditioning, or help returning to sport/daily activities in the wake of an injury, schedule your appointment at one of our 13 Greater St. Louis area locations or via a Telehealth injury screening.
