Some around here that follow me may know that I missed this entire season rehabbing my shoulder, trying to avoid surgery on my labrum. This is an injury that I believe has been around for a while in my case, but had recently escalated to the point that I could no longer pitch comfortably or effectively. Things that I had dismissed as "tired arm," "random fluctuation in velocity," "must be mechanical" and other explanations were likely at least in part the beginnings of my labrum tear.
To summarize what led to this point quickly:
-Peaked in velocity between sophomore and junior year of high school. I dismissed this as having been an early bloomer and having apparently reached my genetic limit, so to speak. Went on to really struggle as a senior in high school, with constantly tired arm regardless of rest and a drop in velocity.
-Worked on mechanics and got a good deal of rest along with the warm weather of summer after that senior year and had a successful summer. Never got to where my velocity was as a 16-17 year old, but was up from high school season and relatively comfortable.
-Went to college and joined our rotation. Velocity was at or just below where I had been in the summer, arm typically felt okay. However, I sometimes had as much as two weeks rest in between starts. Was having uncharacteristic inconsistencies in both control and velocity, which I assumed had something to do with the adjustment to the college game.
-Came back to school for the fall ready to really prove myself and take a step forward. Velocity was down, control was down, never felt fresh for a second. Was puzzled, but I just tried to really focus in on my mechanics.
-Did a lot of productive mechanics work over the fall/winter but never felt "right" during my throwing. Was still optimistic for this spring. Came in throwing at an all-time low and feeling extremely tired in the arm. Wasn't exactly an alarming sort of pain, so I called it "tired." I had felt it before and thought that perhaps I hadn't gotten my arm in shape.
-After embarrassing myself by having such poor velocity and feeling so uncomfortable physically that I could hardly throw a strike, I realized there was no good reason I should feel that bad. I saw the trainer and he decided that I should rest.
-With rest, we worked on my shoulder flexibility, which was alarmingly bad. No progress was made, eventually got an MR-arthrogram and diagnosed a labrum tear. Given the long recovery prognosis for labrum surgery, I wanted to forgo that -- I'll sooner quit baseball than undergo that surgery to pitch for part of one season.
So back to the present...
I was finally getting to the throwing part of my rehab after a strenuous few months of work getting my shoulder flexible and stable. The expectation was that I should not have the same discomfort.
No luck. Still hurt and honestly worse than before. I was just about ready to call my coach and hang it up.
I decided to throw a football around and see if that hurt, since I used to be a quarterback and had no issues back then. Interestingly, no pain in throwing a football. For some baseball players, the football motion would not be THAT different. However, I have always had a long arm motion in baseball, taking the ball down near/below my waist and back up -- one thing about this that developed over time is that my arm angle had to get lower and lower to stay comfortable. Obviously my normal baseball motion wouldn't be confused for a football motion.
I figured, what could it hurt to take that short, over-the-top football motion and try it with the baseball? Lo and behold, I actually went through a full rehab throwing session without any pain. And another. And another.
So this is a work in progress. I'm not done with my throwing program, but I'm very encouraged after this tweak. I'm opening this thread to hear suggestions moving forward or possible theories as to why this has helped.
My thoughts:
-my older motion may have been more difficult to keep consistent
-the older motion may have encouraged me to "drag" my arm through the pitch, as opposed to getting the arm in the so-called "ready" position before moving forward
-the above points would likely be corrected with this new arm motion
What these things have to do with the labrum is beyond me.
Sorry for the long read, just wanted to disclose everything. Thanks for the help everybody.
Original Post
