Youth Baseball Curveball - Should a youth pitcher throw curveballs?
CoachMc writes "It has been my experience if you tell a youth baseball pitcher he can't do something , he will do it when you are not looking. Here are the latest facts on youth baseball pitching in relation to stress on the arm. Thanks to a member this information has been passed along from The American Journal of Sports Medicine for you to make your own educated decision about youth baseball pitching and the curveball.
A Biomechanical Comparison of Youth Baseball Pitches
Is the Curveball Potentially Harmful?
Shouchen Dun, MS*, Jeremy Loftice, CSCS*, Glenn S. Fleisig, PhD*,,
David Kingsley and James R. Andrews, MD*
From the * American Sports Medicine Institute, Birmingham, Alabama,
and the University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Address correspondence to Glenn S. Fleisig, PhD, American Sports
Medicine Institute, 833 St Vincent?s Drive, Suite 100, Birmingham, AL
35205 (e-mail: glennf@asmi.org).
Background: The curveball has been anecdotally considered as a
dangerous pitch among youth pitchers, especially for their ulnar
collateral ligaments. No biomechanical studies have been conducted
among youth pitchers comparing different types of pitches.
Hypothesis: The kinetics of the baseball throw varies significantly
between the fastball, curveball, and change-up for youth pitchers.
Kinematic and temporal differences are also expected.
Study Design: Controlled laboratory study.
Methods: Twenty-nine youth baseball pitchers (age, 12.5 ± 1.7 years)
pitched 5 fastballs, 5 curveballs, and 5 change-ups with maximum
effort in an indoor laboratory setting. Data were collected with a
3-dimensional motion analysis system. Kinetic, kinematic, and temporal
parameters were compared among the 3 pitches.
Results: For elbow varus torque, shoulder internal rotation torque,
elbow proximal force, and shoulder proximal force, the fastball
produced the greatest values, followed by the curveball and then the
change-up. The fastball also produced the greatest elbow flexion
torque. Shoulder horizontal adduction torque and shoulder adduction
torque were the least for the change-up. Several differences in body
segment position, velocity, and timing were also found.
Conclusions: In general, elbow and shoulder loads were the greatest in
the fastball and least in the change-up. Kinematic and temporal
differences were also found among the 3 pitch types.
Clinical Relevance: The curveball may not be more potentially harmful
than the fastball for youth pitchers. This finding is consistent with
recent epidemiologic research indicating that amount of pitching is a
stronger risk factor than type of pitches thrown. "
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