There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
Overhand throwing requires contributions from and interaction between all limb segments.
Most previous investigations have concentrated on the throwing arm itself, yet poor
mechanics at the arm may originate in the lower extremities. Multicomponent ground-reaction
forces of both the push-off and landing limbs were measured in six collegiate and
one high school level baseball pitchers. Full body kinematics were simultaneously
recorded to correlate phases in the pitching cycle with the force data. Pitchers were
found to generate shear forces of 0.35 body weight in the direction of the pitch with
the push-off leg and to resist forces of 0.72 body weight with the landing leg. Wrist
velocity was found to correlate highly with increased leg drive. This study validates
the clinical impression that the lower extremity is an important contributor to the
throwing motion. Based on this study, strengthening of the lower extremities could
be inferred to be important both to enhance performance and to avoid injury.