Baseball is one of the interesting spring games developed by America and loved by Americans. This game is played with a bat, a ball, and gloves. Baseball is played between two teams that consist of nine players each. The health and fitness of players are essential to winning the game. A baseball athlete can easily be caught with arm injuries because they practice ball throwing, bat swinging, and catching. Let us know ‘Baseball Arm Care’.
Arm care is very important for baseball athletes as it increases the chances of winning the game, maximizes their performance, and lessens the chances of getting injured. The baseball team’s management developed special programs to maintain the strength and flexibility of players’ arms. Arm care programs help to save players from discomfort and shoulder injuries.
Baseball Arm Care:
Baseball players do a lot of training, and sometimes this training becomes so harmful for them. This excess training and improper care of arms and shoulders lead them to shoulder injuries that sometimes require surgery to come back in order.
Here are some tips for proper Arm care for baseball players:
Pre-season preparation for the game:
Baseball players who are suffering from some arm or shoulder troubles must focus on preparatory preparation. These activities are designed to improve the arm for throwing activities. These activities help to energize the players and prepare their shoulders for the throwing in the game.
Training and exercises:
A baseball athlete needs to follow a strict routine of training to make himself fit and fine for the game, but if he couldn’t do so he might go into the condition called detraining because of the gap in training.
Athletes should prevent themselves from detraining as it may affect their performance in the game, that’s why they should regularly pay attention to their training routines.
Their training routines should involve exercise that is beneficiary to toughen their body and help them to increase their speed and capacity likes:
- Pull-ups
- Push-ups
- Triceps dips
- Focus on:
As Baseballers, they should focus on the following things to maintain their arm care routine:
- Toughen their upper body to make their shoulders strong and flexible, this helps them to increase their ability to pick up more weight.
- Their arm rotational movement and tough and strong shoulders help them to increase their arm rotational movement which leads to good throwing.
- Do exercise to make their legs strong so that they can run faster after hitting the ball for gaining this purpose they can do some legs exercise.
- Strong their shoulders by doing shoulder exercises:
Arm care programs help athletes to do good at the games which leads to their efficient performance and make it possible for them to stay long in this game.
Shoulder exercises reduce the risk of arm disability of an athlete. These exercises are
Arm circles:
Experts suggested that this exercise is very good for making blood flow in an athlete. They can make their arm circle routine or can follow the expert’s advice to do so.
There is an example of an arms circle routine that can help a baseball athlete to increase the flow of blood in their arms and shoulders.
Do small arm circles forward 15-20 times
Do small arm circles backward 15-20 times
Do big arm circles forward 10 times (make it slow)
Do big arm circles backward 10 times (make it slow)
Do small up and down movement of arms 15-20 times
Arm twists:
Arm twists include the Russian twist which is a well-known drill among athletes for gaining arm and shoulder strength.
Scapula floor slides:
The scapula bone at the back of the shoulder links the collar bone with the upper arm bone.
These exercise improves the health of the arm and shoulder and mostly uses to reduce the soreness of the shoulders.
Rotator cuff stretches:
These exercises are performed to increase the throwing capacity of ballers. These stretches can reduce tiredness and enhance the balling capacity of athletes.
Quadruped extension rotation:
These rotations are very beneficial for athletes. These exercises improve the core muscles of the athletes
Side-lying windmill:
This exercise improves the chest, back, and most importantly the shoulder of athletes.
Throwing ball exercises:
A good throw in the game can make a team win the game. Throwing practices are important and play a vital role in a player’s successful career. To throw a good ball an athlete needs strong arm muscles and strong shoulders, which is only possible with proper arm care. Athletes can practice either with their throwing partner or with a batting cage to improve it.
Long toss:
One of the effective throwing exercises is the long toss.
It involves two stages:
- Stretching-out stage: In this stage, athlete stretches their arms by doing throws with minimum effort.
- Velocity stage: After the stretching, the athlete can practice with another athlete.
Long toss helps in arm care because it sufficiently relaxes arm and shoulder muscles and lets them ready for faster and stronger throws. In a long toss, the distance of the throw slowly increases which helps in building arm strength.
Warmup:
Proper warmup before the training, reduces the chances of overstretching of arm muscles.
The warmup is very important which can prevent an athlete from tiredness and soreness from training and exercises. Warmups physically prepare a body for good performance. An athlete should never start his game without a warmup.
Proper rest and relaxing routine:
An athlete must follow a proper routine for rest as it is very beneficial for maintaining his health. A player can get his energy back and make his arm and other muscles work properly by getting proper rest. Due to tough exercises, the muscles may get stretched but it can be prevented by doing the following steps:
- Get proper sleep
- Be hydrated
- Do Icing on affected muscles
- Get a massage
- Stretch out
Conclusion:
Arm care programs are developed by every baseball team to maintain the health and strength of the players. As the cases of arm injuries increases, players must need to follow these programs seriously so they can perform well in the game.
Frequently asked questions:
- How do take care of a player’s arms after a baseball game?
Icing helps a lot in this regard. Always keep a few bags of ice and do icing for 10 minutes.
- Is a pain in the arms after pitching normal?
Yes, a little bit of pain in the arm muscles is normal.
