Evaluation of wrist and forearm motion in college-aged baseball pitchers

Abstract

Current pitching literature focuses primarily on the elbow and glenohumeral joints. This has led to a paucity of information regarding the forearm and wrist, and the limited data available are inconsistent. Therefore, this article seeks to provide a comprehensive description of the kinematics and kinetics of the wrist and forearm for the fastball, curveball, slider/cutter, and change-up for college-level baseball pitchers. Thirty-six collegiate pitchers were evaluated using motion analysis techniques. Results indicated that pitching the curveball generated the greatest forearm supination (16 ± 13°) compared with the other three pitch types (p < 0.05). The curveball and slider/cutter were pitched with less wrist extension and greater ulnar deviation compared with the fastball and change-up. The curveball was found to produce the greatest ulnar moment (7.3 ± 2.2 Nm) and was significantly different from the moments noted when pitching the fastball and change-up (5.1 ± 1.9 and 4.9 ± 1.9 Nm, respectively; p < 0.05). These results indicate that it may be possible to objectively determine pitch type from kinematic data of the wrist and forearm. It may also be possible that coaches may be able to identify abnormal pitching mechanics from more proximal segments by understanding the motion of the wrist.

Biomechanical differences between left- and right-handed baseball pitchers

“…Furthermore, peak ulnar angular velocity, the velocity at which the pitcher's wrist deviates towards the ulnar side, was significantly slower in the left-handed pitchers. This may be of significance for both pitching coaches and biomechanical analyses, as the wrists' motion provides most of the control for producing the movement of the ball (Solomito, Garibay, Woods, Õunpuu, & Nissen, 2014). It is also important to note that there are large standard deviations in the results for the wrist parameters could be caused by inter-pitcher variability indicating differences in pitching techniques as previously described in the literature (Solomito et al, 2014).…”

Radio-ulnar joint supinates around ball release during baseball fastball pitching

“…The pronation angle on the fastball pitch and change-up during the acceleration phase was greater than that for curveballs, but the movement pattern of pronation/supination was similar among the various pitches (Barrentine et al, 1998;Nissen et al, 2009;Sakurai et al, 1993;Solomito et al, 2014). Thus, a supination phase around the instant of BRL during the various pitches is expected.…”

“…The pronation/supination curve calculated using the FC-MIR normalisation technique (the second column in Figure 4) was different from those calculated using the other two methods. The curve made using the FC-MIR normalisation technique was quite similar to those reported in previous studies (Nissen et al, 2007(Nissen et al, , 2009Sakurai et al, 1993;Solomito et al, 2014). Since the supination lasted for a short period, and the subsequent pronation had greater angular velocity, fluctuations of the timing of the supination phase in FC-MIR normalisation data might superficially result in a diminished range of motion of supination in the averaged data.…”

“…Three-dimensional position data were filtered using a fourth-order low-pass Butterworth filter with a 60 Hz cut-off frequency which was chosen based on the results of residual analysis, previous studies (Barrentine et al, 1998;Keeley et al, 2010;Nissen et al, 2007;Solomito et al, 2014), and qualitative observation of the velocity and acceleration curves derived from the filtered data.…”

“…CONTACT tomoyuki matsuo tmatsuo@skill.hss. osaka-u.ac.jp 1998;Naito, Takagi, Yamada, Hashimoto, & Maruyama, 2014;Nissen et al, 2007;Solomito, Garibay, Woods, Õunpuu, & Nissen, 2014). At times, there was a focus on pronation during the arm acceleration and follow-through phases to improve throwing velocity and prevent injury; therefore it was claimed that muscle training for the primary pronator muscles was needed (Carroll, 2004;Keeley et al, 2010).…”