Major League Baseball has seen its fair share of serious arm injuries this season, so a couple of notable doctors are creating a mobile app that they hope will help prevent throwing injuries for future generations, especially at the youth level.
According to Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan, there have been 45 players who have undergone Tommy John surgery (elbow ligament replacement surgery) through the first two months of the 2014 season. That is an 80 percent increase from the same point last season.
ESPN.com’s Stephania Bell reports that famed orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews, who has performed countless surgeries on sports’ biggest starts throughout the years, and Dr. Kevin Wilk are working on creating a mobile app—Throw Like a Pro—that will educate players, coaches and parents.
The goal of the app is obviously to reduce arm and shoulder injuries in youth baseball. The app will focus on preventing injuries, but at the same time, the tips should be able to help long-term performance.
In an effort to make it as helpful as possible, the app will use data to assist users, via Bell: “The app, Throw Like a Pro, will be released in the coming weeks. When available, it will feature four main elements, all centered around scientific data and input from Andrews and Wilk.”
Here are descriptions of some of the sections:
- Advice from the American Sports Medicine Institute, like throwing with proper mechanics rather than trying to light up the radar gun.
- A preseason preparation guide and pregame warm-up routine
- Pitch count and rest calculator, based on age
Those seem like very helpful sections. Every young pitcher wants to be able to throw as hard as Reds closer Aroldis Chapman, but throwing hard can be devastating to one’s health if the mechanics aren’t there.
If Andrews and Wilk are successful, Throw Like a Pro could change the way young baseball players train.
[h/t Hardball Talk]
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