Texas Baseball Ranch Founder Ron Wolforth Asks: "Are Injuries and Multiple Repeat Surgeries for Pitchers 'The New Normal'?"
"Work Load" is not the main problem
HOUSTON, May 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- "The recent case of Jarrod Parker, who is facing his third UCL repair, is a clear indication of where the current injury narrative has taken us. Multiple surgeries will -- unfortunately -- become the new normal," according to Ron Wolforth, founder of the Texas Baseball Ranch in Montgomery, Texas. He played a significant role in the comeback of Barry Zito and Scott Kazmir and has worked closely with other Major League pitchers including Trevor Bauer, CJ Wilson and Tyson Ross.
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"This is exactly what happens when work load is forwarded as the primary causal agent of injury," said Wolforth, whom Sports Illustrated profiled in a lengthy article in the MLB Preview issue. "Never mind his physical structural alignment and strength balance. Never mind his possible mobility or stability constraints or limitations. Never mind his movement pattern inefficiencies. Never mind his preparation and his recovery between outings."
"Unless and until we move away from the narrative that workload is the primary cause of injury, the case of Jarrod Parker will become the new normal," he said.
"Pitchers like Strasburg, Sale and Harvey are at even greater risk of re-injury to the same area or up or down the kinetic chain because simply repairing the soft tissue did nothing to address the true underlying issues that contributed to it in the first place," he said.
| Here is the Texas Baseball Ranches Chart, which guides our interaction with athletes: |
| I. Physical Structure / Function |
| A. Asymmetries |
| B. Misalignments |
| C. Strength Imbalances |
| D. Mobility and/or Flexibility Constraints or Limitations |
| E. Stability and/or Strength Constraints or Limitations |
| II. Movement Pattern Inefficiencies |
| A. Mistimed, Out of sequence, Out of Sync movements |
| B. Acceleration Disconnections: Body parts in less than advantageous positions placing soft tissue in compromising positions DURING the loading and unloading phase |
| C. Deceleration Disconnections: Body parts in less than advantageous positions placing soft tissue in compromising positions immediately AFTER the unloading phase |
| III. Work Load Related/ Recovery Related |
| A. How much, how often, how many per inning, how many per outing, how much increase from previous season. How quickly can you return to full performance? |
| B. 7-day cycle vs. 5-day cycle. |
| C. Systematic or personalized recovery protocol? |
| IV. Training Related |
| A. Is current strength program creating any asymmetries, misalignments, strength imbalances, mobility constraints, strength constraints, movement pattern disconnections? |
| B. Is current conditioning program creating any asymmetries, misalignments, strength imbalances, mobility constraints, strength constraints, movement pattern disconnections? |
| C. Is current throwing program creating any asymmetries, misalignments, strength imbalances, mobility constraints, strength constraints, movement pattern disconnections? |
| V. Game-Time Routine Related |
| A. Wake-up warm-up; arm care |
| B. Pregame bull pen |
| C. Cool down after throwing |
| VI. Internal Systemic Related |
| A. Sleep |
| B. Nutrition |
| C. Hydration |
"As you can see a focus upon pitch count or work load is just a small fraction of the total picture," he said.
About The Texas Baseball Ranch
Founded in 2003 by Ron Wolforth and Jill Wolforth, The Texas Baseball Ranch is the place an athlete can dream as big as his work ethic will allow. It is a place of great hope, high expectations and even greater passion, energy and encouragement. The Texas Baseball Ranch is a sanctuary from all the negativity, pessimism and bad coaching the real world dishes out.
Since 2003, 187 Ranch students have broken the 90mph barrier; 28 students have broken the 94mph barrier and 5 the 100mph barrier. Over 78 of our athletes have been drafted by MLB. (But who's counting?)
In fact at the Texas Baseball Ranch, we count almost EVERYTHING. We lead the world in the objective measurement of baseball pitching training.
Every single day we are transforming the lives of young men all around the world by refusing to place athletes in boxes, refusing to use and except traditional labels, refusing to strictly choreograph everybody's movement or force athletes into one size fits all programs.
The Texas Baseball Ranch is about the hyper-personalization of training protocols and the customization of personal training regimens.
For more information, go to www.TexasBaseballRanch.com or call 936-588-6762.
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SOURCE The Texas Baseball Ranch
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