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Softball Pitching and Injury Rates Study Results

By: Cindy Bristow

Softball Pitching is a natural motion; it won't hurt a pitchers arm. Ever heard or said that before? If so then read on to find out the real story.


Fastpitch Softball Pitching Arm Injuries

My whole life I've heard people say that softball pitching is a natural motion and won't hurt your arm. These same people aren't doctors, or even pitchers, which is why I always found this hilarious. I'm not a doctor either but I am a pitcher and having had a pitching arm so painful that I couldn't raise my hand to drink a cup of water during a game I was pitching, I've found these comments absurd. Now learn the actual truth behind this long-held myth.

Think about it for a minute. You're standing there, at a dead stop, holding an object in your hand (any object that has some amount of weight to it) and in one quick motion you're going to try to propel this object through the air as hard and as fast as you possibly can. Doing so would require a tremendous amount of power, strength, speed and force - all things that require lots of muscles doing lots of things. Now, imagine that you're going to repeat this same process over and over and over hundreds of times a day, thousands of times a week, hundreds of thousands of times a year and millions of times over your lifetime. And now tell me - with a straight face - that it won't hurt me, and in fact, it's actually "natural". Come on&I think this whole idea of "natural" has been fostered to promote a psychotic notion of over practice on the part of the pitcher.

I've often said that there's nothing "natural" about throwing something forward as hard as you can as often as possible over years of your life. While allowing your arm to drop down (as in the underhand pitching motion) might be a more natural place for your arm to be since our arms were designed to hang down when at rest, there is nothing "natural" about using our body to throw something forward to the millionth degree. I think this whole concept of "natural" evolved from the fact that in the overhand throwing motion the arm is raised above the head being supported only by very small muscles around the shoulder joint, and our bodies aren't built with the intention of our arms being raised over our heads in a forceful manner for long periods of time.

Well now there is finally some evidence to show that softball pitching is not as "natural" as everyone has wanted to believe. In a recent study done by Dr. Nikhil Verma at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago 7 female windmill pitchers were studied using motion analysis and other scientific evaluations of their biceps muscles while they were pitching underhand and throwing overhand. Keep in mind these studies were conducted with pitchers throwing underhand and overhand at 53 mph.

What they found:

  • During the underhand pitching motion the biceps brachii works much harder than when throwing overhand.
  • The biceps are most active (or the most stress placed on it) when the pitcher is in the 9-o'clock and follow-through phases of the pitch. The 9 o'clock position is when the pitcher's hand is behind her on its way down to the release point. This makes sense as this is also the point when the arm is stretched the most.

Their conclusions:

  • Repetitive eccentric biceps contractions may help explain the high incidence of anterior shoulder pain clinically observed in elite windmill pitchers. The English version - pitching too much (which is repetitive contractions of the biceps) can explain why there are so many elite softball pitchers with pain in the front (anterior) of their shoulder (as a result of so many years of over throwing in practice and games).

What we can learn:

  1. That we should quit saying that softball pitching is a natural motion as this promotes the concept that it isn't potentially harmful - which it is.
  2. That one, two or even 100 underhand pitches won't wreck your arm. It's the constant overuse that leads to exaggerated stress on the pitcher's biceps.
  3. Be reasonable with your pitchers in regards to:
    1. Practice - both in the number of pitches they throw each day and the number of days they pitch each week.
    2. Games - Let your pitchers rest whenever they can. Don't be greedy and expect another coach to rest your pitcher whenever she gets to their team.
    3. Fatigue - Pitcher's get REALLY tired during the season, just ask them (or better yet, just watch them). Let them rest when they're tired. They won't forget how to pitch by taking a few days off.
    4. Rest - REST is VERY important to pitchers as it is to all athletes. Tired pitchers become sloppy and make mistakes and get injured. If your pitchers feel like they must throw everyday from a mental point of view then mix in some ½ and ¾ days where the pitchers only throw ½ speed at ½ distance followed by ¾ speed at ¾ distance and that's it! Practice over.
    5. Use your head and don't overdo it!

For more information on this study check it out for yourself in the March Issue of The American Journal of Sports Medicine.

For more information on pitching check out our fantastic pitching products:

Filed under: All, Conditioning, Pitching, Practice — Tags: , , , — Cindy Bristow @ 4:08 pm

7 Comments »

  1. My daugther is a pitcher and she was used in excess last year. She ended the season with a rib injury in the coastal cartilidge. There was no tear, the area was just inflamed and it made breathing very difficult. The solution was rest and she has been resting for 5 months and she is just getting back to pitching. As time progressed, the only motion that aggrevated the area was the windmill motion so I feel it was an overuse injury. Are there and studies about that type of injury in softball pitchers?

    Comment by Shelly — September 23, 2009 @ 6:01 pm

  2. I’m not aware of any studies in this type of injury for softball pitchers, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any. I do suggest that your daughter start back pitching gradually even though she’s rested for 5 months. Go slow and don’t overdue it. It is mearly a myth that softball pitching is a “natural motion”. There’s nothing natural about moving your arm as fast as you possibly can while trying to throw a 6 ounce, 12 inch ball as hard as possible as often as possible – no matter what amateurs say about it. ICE and rest are 2 of the best friends a pitcher can have. Good luck! Cindy

    Comment by Cindy Bristow — September 25, 2009 @ 6:23 pm

  3. My daughter has been battling a right groin injury for almost 4 months now. She has taken 2 weeks off a couple of times and even a month this last time, and it keeps giving her trouble. Any ideas on time and what to do about this injury? Thanks.

    Comment by Steve — October 19, 2010 @ 2:17 pm

  4. Hi Steve, Sorry to hear about your daughter but it sounds like she needs to find out what she’s doing to cause the injury and solve that first – then add rest and she should start to see improvement. If she’s a pitcher, then I’m guessing she keeps her weight over her back foot too long through the motion which will really create a strain on the inner groin. Ask her what skill she does, or position within a certain skill, and you’re on your way to solving the problem.

    Comment by Cindy Bristow — October 20, 2010 @ 7:28 am

  5. My daughter pitched a 2 hour game one day and the next her arm was starting to hurt where she couldnt throw things and and it also hurt near the rib part. Is this common and will it harm her pitching career?
    thanks

    Comment by Cameron — February 19, 2011 @ 4:23 pm

  6. For a lot of young pitchers who aren’t used to pitching an entire game, whenever they do so it can really place a lot of strain on their arms and shoulder area. While this doesn’t mean they actually injured their arm it does mean they should always ice it after pitching and rest it until it feels better. Tell your pitchers to warm up good, stretch good and ice after pitching – this kind of routine will help prevent any long term injuries that can result from overuse. As long as her pitching mechanics are good then she should be fine after some ice and rest.

    Comment by Cindy Bristow — February 22, 2011 @ 9:54 am

  7. Hi Cindy! Thanks for this information on softball pitching and related injurys. I’ve played baseball and fastpitch softball for many years and I can tell you that I’ve had way more injuries throwing overhand than I have pitching underhand. However, any excessive motion over a long period of time can cause muscle and joint related problems if proper care is not taken. The more popular term would be ‘burn out’ from overuse. From what I’ve seen in baseball, there are many more injuries that occur to not only the shoulder but also to the elbow and wrist. These injuries are caused by significantly more torsion on the elbow as the arm snaps back to extend the arm through the throwing action in baseball-remember Tommy John? In 1974, Tommy had ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction, which is a surgical procedure in which a ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with a tendon from elsewhere in the body (often from the forearm, hamstring, knee, or foot of the patient). The procedure is common among collegiate and professional athletes in several sports, but most notably baseball.

    Whereas, in softball the biceps brachii contracts and extends in a flexing motion which actually contributes to the development of muscle in response. Ty Stofflet is an example, out of Reading, PA who was clocked at 104 mph and one of the faster pitchers to have ever played the game. Ty’s left arm was considerably larger than his right arm. You do not generally see that kind of muscle development in baseball pitchers. In defence of underhand pitching, and in my old school opinion, it’s really more of a natural motion versus throwing overhand given that there is more muscle development in softball pitchers than there is in baseball pitchers…or least in theory.

    Comment by Kevin — May 21, 2011 @ 7:16 pm

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