06/03/2026
If you’re a baseball pitcher trying to fix shoulder or elbow pain only by doing banded arm exercises, you’re probably missing the bigger picture.
A recent clinical review in the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy highlights what we preach every single day at Renew PT: Pitching is a whole-body kinetic chain movement. When you have a leak anywhere in that chain, your arm pays the price.
According to the research, your arm pain could actually be coming from:
1️⃣ Weak Drive-Leg Hips: Decreased hip abduction strength on your drive leg forces your upper body to work twice as hard to generate force. Injured pitchers are significantly more likely to have weak hips!
2️⃣ Poor Lead-Leg Braking: Your front leg needs a massive "eccentric braking impulse" (quad control) to accept your body weight. If it’s weak, the timing of your trunk rotation gets thrown off, throwing massive stress into your shoulder and elbow.
3️⃣ Sub-Optimal Trunk Power: Did you know that roughly 86% of the energy transferred through the elbow actually comes from trunk motion?! If your core stability or rotational mobility is lacking, your elbow takes the brunt of the torque.
At Renew PT, we don’t just slap ice on your shoulder and call it a day. We look at your hips, your trunk, and your foot contact to find the true root cause of your pain so you can throw harder, safer, and stay on the mound.
Ready to fix the leak in your kinetic chain? Book your 1-on-1 evaluation at our Mooresville clinic. Click the link in our bio or send us a DM to get started!
