Why Do They Need a Physical Therapist?

Why Does a Baseball Player Development Company Need a Physical Therapist?

The answer is quite simple when you think about it. 

Precise movements are the building blocks of all athletic activities; who better to handle the promotion of these proper movements than a Physical Therapist?

Athletes, like a skyscraper, need to be built from the ground up.  The “ground” in this case, is proper human movement.

If the movement, like the parking garage of a skyscraper, is wrong, then everything built on top of it, will be wrong.  Wrong movements decrease performance and will eventually lead to injury.

When we talk about proper motion we have to go way back in time to when we were just little embryos.

 

As we developed neurologically we started with the “command center”, the brain.  At nearly the exact same time we started to develop the “power cord”; the spinal cord.

So at the first ultrasound, we had a developing neurological system consisting of the brain and spinal cord, our embryo.  Our extremities will develop later.  This sequence of development is VITALLY important for any and all movements and activities of the human body.

When you are keenly aware of the neurological development of the human body, it should be very clear that all motion must begin at the spine and move out to the extremities.

This is very important when an athlete initiates movement but also the commands that are given to produce a desired result.

For example, when I was a “player”, my coach told me when hitting, to “squish the bug” to generate power.  This “coaching phrase” was intended to get me to turn my hips as tight as possible when I initiated my swing.  However, my back foot is a leg length, or 3 feet, away from where the motion ACTUALY occurs. 

The motion occurs at the spine.  The command instead could be “keep your head on the ball and turn you belly button as tight as possible towards the dugout.”  The spine is where the initiation of rotation begins and ends.  The foot is the furthest body part away; thus; we most move PROXIMAL to DISTAL.  Which simply means all motion must start at the core/spine and then move outward to the arms, legs etc.

If you can grasp this concept, you will see immediate results in all athletic activities.

So why me?  The story of my involvement is just a chance meeting with Jeremy Booth in 2006 at a batting cage just north of Boston.  Jeremy was told his right elbow needed Tommy John Surgery for him to play again.  I told him I would take a look at it.  The rest, as they say, is history.

After working every day for three weeks on scapular coordination exercises and a re-training of the whole catching/throwing process, Mr. Booth hit a 1.9 pop to second base…. pain-free!

We have worked together ever since.  Program 15 is his dream, which is now a reality. Program 15 will change the game of baseball forever.  I can only hope that my involvement in Program 15 will leave each player a better understanding of the proper way to move and stay healthy.