roothog66 posted:Having had the night and about 400 Twitter feed posts in a conversation on this on my phone when I woke up, another thought crossed my mind. After reading more of Rinhold's stuff, I now have serious ethical questions. To do a study like this with minors, there is a requirement that the parents sign a release.
Looking back on his blogs, Mike has been anti-WB programs for years. IN fact, in a blog published before he started this study, he writes, concerning the supposed TJ Epidemic, that "the two biggest offenders...are weighted ball and long toss programs." So, hang with me here. He went into the study with a sincere belief that weighted ball programs cause significant injuries. Then, he signs up kids as young as 13 to participate in a program he fully believes puts them at a significant risk of injury. Anyone else see a problem with this?
While I'm sure the releases included a disclaimer that injury was possible, this wouldn't be sufficient if the guy running it actually has a sincere belief that the risk of injury was not just possible, but significant.
Conducting such a study with young players does seem irresponsible - irrespective of whether or not one had a pre-conceived notion that a wb program causes/doesn't cause elbow/shoulder issues. But if one believes going in that wb programs cause injuries and yet proceeds to conduct the research with minors regardless, then not only is it irresponsible but potentially unethical (I'll reserve judgment as ethics are shades of gray).
IMHO, the person who could suffer the injury should be of age to understand the inherent risks and sign/decline to sign the liability release - and not allow some overzealous parent to put their son's baseball career (or even future strength and arm/shoulder mobility outside of baseball) at risk because they're wide-eyed chasing an athletic scholarship or have visions of their kid playing in the bigs etc.