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Researchers
learn more about pitching by studying the total-body movements of pitchers.
The conclusion? Strengthening the lower extremities may enhance power
and avoid injury.
Baseball
fans have long noticed that strong pitchers appear to rely as much on
leg power as they do on arm power to create the velocity they use to throw
a baseball. To test the validity of this observation -- and to learn more
about human movement -- a research team from Johns Hopkins created an
artificial pitching mound that recorded the forces exterted throughout
a pitch.
One plate
under the pitching rubber recorded push-off forces, and another plate
under the spot where the forward foot lands recorded landing forces.
"We also
studied the motions of pitchers by putting markers on their bodies," says
Edmund Y.S. Chao, Ph.D., one of the study's authors. Sensors were placed
on the pitchers' major body joints. Special video cameras captured the
motion. The markers were used to quantify the motion.
"We can
see the transfer of momentum from the standing foot to the landing foot
to the upper trunk and eventually to the pitching arm," Dr. Chao says.
This transfer of energy is called the "kinetic chain." A smooth transfer
of energy through the chain results in a pitch that is both powerful and
safe for the pitcher. "Transferring energy through the body seems to minimize
the degree of force on any single area," Dr. Chao says. When no individual
link in the kinetic chain is overtaxed, all the links remain strong. Another
benefit of this process may be that it spreads energy needs out over a
greater area of the body. That means greater endurance for pitchers.
Ed McFarland,
M.D., another of the study's authors, says this research confirms that
leg drive plays an important role in pitching. "In practical terms, it
means that exercising the lower extremity is just about as important as
working the upper body when it comes to pitching," he says. "Increasing
arm strength is obviously important, but not to the exclusion of working
the rest of the body."
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