Arm and Shoulder Care - Interview with Jeff Peach

Video Highlights

0:17 Introducing Jim Peach.
1:03 What advice would you give to someone who has an injury?
2:15 What can kids do for themselves to prevent injuries?
3:35 Time constraints cut warmup and recovery time.
4:46 What types of injuries are most common in youth baseball?
5:44 What are some things kids can do to become more body conscious?
6:30 Train specific to the sport you play.
7:28 Be cautious of experts who claim to have "the only way".
8:12 What activity level is the best during recovery?
9:41 Differences between in-season and off-season conditioning.
10:28 What is the best way to incorporate new scientific advances in arm and shoulder conditioning.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Introducing Jeff Peach

Jeff is a certified athletic therapist and certified strength coach. He grew up playing baseball but was frequently injured, spending a lot of time in doctor's offices and in physical thereapy; but that helped build his passion for his profession. He has been in practice for about 6 years and likes to focus in shoulder and elbow injuries because it's what he knows best.

What advice would you give to someone who has an injury?

First, make sure you know what's going on. Proper assessment is key to determine proper approach to treatment. With so many joint injuries, shoulders, elbows, knees, hips, etc. it's important to get to the root cause by contacting a medical professional. A professional also needs to speak with the coach to let him know what the diagnoses is and what to avoid in terms of conditioning.

What can kids do for themselves to prevent injuries?

Often kids who suffer from injury or pain are set up with some extravagant recovery program, but what are some things kids can do for themselves and be accountable for preventive measures. With the prolifertion of youth sports we're seeing a huge increase in volume without the increase in attention to preparation and recovery. With limited resources in field and practice facility availability coaches are feeling pressured to limit preparation and recovery time. Kids should be able to take accountability for assessing their weaknesses and work on those at home.

Time constraints cut warmup and recovery time

Coaches need to take responsibility to incorporte warm up and recovery time into practices. Extending practices by an extra half hour may be necessary to ensure that happens. Some kids are missing the opportunity to move up to the next level due to injuries that may have been prevented by appropriate warm up and recovery. Coaches need to instruct this at a young age and make it a priority. Kids tend to hate warm ups and recovery but if coaches could educate the kids better on the importance of warm ups and make it more of a norm, the kids might be more willing to do that.

What types of injuries are most common in youth baseball?

Most injuries revolve around various tendonopathies. Not as many major blowouts such as UCLs, etc. At a young age, muscles and growth plates are most at risk for injuries. Because kids have more collagen, tendons and joints are not as vulnerable. A big contributor to those types of injuries are kids not being as conscious of their own bodies. There is a tendency to play through injuries and they want to play, so if asked how they feel, they're likely to say they feel OK, even if there is a lingering injury from the week before that is limiting them.

What are some things kids can do to become more body conscious?

Talking with a coach or medical professional is a good way for kids to become aware of their bodies. There is so much information in the Internet that it's important for kids to learn what is reliable and what isn't. A good way to discern is to follow the pros and see what they use. Guys like Eric Cressey and Mike Reinold are experts in the field of shoulder and elbow injuries and work with many pro players. There is a ton of information out there, it's just a matter of filtering through it.

Train specific to the sport you play

Because there is such a wealth of information, there may be players who try different progams for sports like wrestling or boxing, but overhand athletes, like tennis players quarterbacks and pitchers have totally different needs. Their movement is more "unnatural". For overhand athletes the mechanics are very specific and there is a greater need to recover properly and warm up properly.

Be cautious of experts who claim to have "the only way"

If a guy is preaching that his way is the only way, he is one to be cautious of. Everyone is slightly different and there should be an understanding that a specific program can provide knowledge but is just one part of an overall program that involves professionals from all disciplines, trainers, therapists, physicians, etc.  

What activity level is the best during recovery?

For guys who do experience an injury what is the appropriate level of activity? Should they jump back into it or take a more cautious approach? The best way of addressing that it to have them work on other important aspects of conditioning as they recover. Maybe focus on core strength or mobility. It doesn't mean just sitting on your hands. It's important to sell it as doing things to improve their overall performance. Work while you wait. Whether it's recovering from an injury or trying to make the starting nine, it's key to continue to work on the things you can work on.

Differences between in-season and off-season conditioning

Offseason should be a time to build up. During the season you can layer on some strength, but not to much to prevent burnout. The goal is to maintain strength, body weight, mobility. Many injuries are the result of small decreases in the range of movement over time.

What is the best way to incorporate new scientific advances in arm and shoulder conditioning?

Baseball seems to be primitive in accepting scientific advances in conditioning. Baseball has sort of an old school mentality and afraid of new things. Players seem to be doing the same old static stretching exercises. With baseball the arm and shoulder are under tremendous stress, the arm undergoing the pull of up to 1 1/2 times the body weight. Being too loose is actually counterproductive. It's important to learn exercises and routines to control that movement. A little tension and stiffness is good. Working on all parts of the body and core using resistance training with plyo bands or oscillations, for example, is better for overall conditioning.