Major league baseball season is already half way through and summer baseball league is in a full swing for college and high school baseball players. We have already talked about how important it is to prevent injuries rather than treating injuries that have already happened. For baseball players especially pitchers, it is important to maintain sufficient shoulder range of motion(ROM) to prevent injuries. A loss of internal rotation and total arch of motion compared to the non-throwing arm of more than 5 degrees may put pitchers in increased risk of injury according to past studies. Several stretching techniques to increase or maintain shoulder internal rotation ROM have been described. One way to stretch is sleeper stretch. However, for high school and little league baseball level, there may not be a table available to lay on and do sleeper stretch. So, here is another way to do sleeper stretch. Instead of laying down on a table, a wall can be used to do the same stretching(pictures). Also, horizontal adduction(cross arm) stretching is an effective way to regain or maintain internal rotation motion. Stretching the shoulder on a daily basis especially after pitching is an important part of injury prevention for baseball pitchers.
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| Modified sleeper stretch (start) |
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| Modified sleeper stretch (end) |
