Four Surefire Ways To Prevent Injuries

Injury Prevention Tip # 1 – Take Time Off From Throwing

Parents often ask me, “What are the best exercises to prevent arm injuries?” My advice always is to take time off from throwing during certain times of the year and to play a second sport. This is not something that baseball parents often want to hear, but it’s the truth. And I know from experience because growing up I played baseball all year round and I’ve always dealt with arm issues.

Injury Prevention Tip # 2 – Improve Your Mechanics As A Pitcher

If you’re pitching and you have bad mechanics, every pitch you throw is going to cause more wear and tear compared to a pitcher with good mechanics. If you improve your mechanics it’s going to help with your ability to prevent injury and it’s also going to make you a better pitcher. If you improve your pitching mechanics not only is it going to help you throw harder, it’s also going to help you be more efficient with your delivery and it’s going to help you prevent injury.

Injury Prevention Tip # 3 – Improve Your Physical Fitness And Athleticism

The other way to prevent injuries is to improve your physical fitness and athleticism. Many kids today are out of shape but yet they are running down the first baseline as fast as they can, or they are running from first to third. It’s no wonder why kids are getting injured – their bodies are not physically prepared to do what they are demanding of them. You don’t get in shape by playing baseball, instead you need to be in shape to play baseball.

Injury Prevention Tip # 4 – Warm-Up Properly

If you are not warming-up properly before games and practices, you’re going to be more vulnerable to an injury. A good warm-up does not consist of jogging a few laps and some static stretches. Although this is the typical baseball warm-up, this kind of regimen is not effective for preventing injuries.

Instead, baseball players should do a full-body dynamic warm up. The goal of the warm-up is to increase blood flow, activate and mobilize the muscles that you’re going to use, increase core body temperature, break a light sweat and improve movement quality. Not only will this physically prepare you to play baseball at your peak performance, but it will also help bullet proof your body from injuries.